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Photographic 

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23  WEST  MAIN  STREET 

WEBSTER,  NY.  14580 

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CIHM/ICMH 

Microfiche 

Series. 


CIHM/ICIVIH 
Collection  de 
microfiches. 


Canadian  institute  for  Historical  Microreproductions  Institut  Canadian  de  microreproductions  historiques 


1980 


Technical  and  Bibliographic  Notes/IMoteit  techniques  et  bibliographiques 


The  Institute  has  attempted  to  obtain  the  best 
original  copy  available  for  filming.  Features  of  this 
copy  which  may  be  bibliographically  unique, 
which  may  alter  any  of  the  images  in  the 
reproduction,  or  which  may  significantly  change 
the  usual  method  of  filming,  are  checked  below. 


L'Institut  a  microfilm^  le  meilleur  exemplaire 
qu'il  lui  a  6t6  possible  de  se  procurer.  Les  details 
de  cet  exemplaire  qui  sont  peut-dtre  uniques  du 
point  de  vue  bibliographique,  qui  peuvent  modifier 
une  image  reproduite,  ou  qui  peuvent  exiger  une 
modification  dans  la  mdthode  normale  de  filmage 
sont  indiqu6s  ci-dessous. 


□    Coloured  covers/ 
Couverture  de  couleur 

□    Covers  damaged/ 
Couverture  endommagde 

□    Covers  restored  and/or  laminated/ 
Couverture  r6staur6e  et/ou  peSliculde 


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Le  titre  de  couverture  manque 

Coloured  maps/ 

Cartes  gdographiques  en  couleur 

Coloured  ink  (i.e.  other  than  blue  or  black)/ 
Encre  de  couleur  (i.e.  autre  que  bleue  ou  noire) 


□    Coloured  pages/ 
Pages  de  couleur 

□    Pages  damaged/ 
Pages  endommagdes 

□    Pages  restored  and/or  laminated/ 
Pages  restaurdes  et/ou  pelliculdes 

□    Pages  discoloured,  stained  or  foxed/ 
Pages  ddcolordes,  tachetdes  ou  piqu6es 

□    Pages  detached/ 
Pages  ddtachdes 

EShowthrough/ 
Transparence 


n 


Coloured  plates  and/or  illustrations/ 
Planches  et/ou  illustrations  en  couleur 

Bound  with  other  material/ 
Relid  avec  d'autres  documents 


□    Quality  of  print  varies/ 
Quality  in^gale  de  I'impression 


D 


Includes  supplementary  material/ 
Comprend  du  materiel  supplementaire 


D 


D 


Tight  binding  may  cause  shadows  or  distortion 
along  interior  margin/ 

La  reliure  serr6p  peut  causer  de  I'ombre  ou  de  la 
distortion  le  long  de  la  marge  int^rieure 

Blank  leaves  added  during  restoration  may 
appear  within  the  text.  Whenever  possible,  these 
have  been  omitted  from  filming/ 
II  se  peut  que  certaines  pages  blanches  ajoutdes 
lors  d'une  restauration  apparaissent  dans  le  texte, 
mais,  lorsque  cela  6tait  possible,  ces  pages  n'ont 
pas  6t6  film6es. 


□    On^y  edition  available/ 
^^ule  Edition  disponible 


D 


Pages  wholly  or  partially  obscured  by  errata 
slips,  tissues,  etc.,  have  been  refilmed  to 
ensure  the  best  possible  image/ 
Les  pages  totalement  ou  partiellement 
obscurcies  par  un  feuillet  d'errata,  une  pelure, 
etc.,  ont  6t6  film6es  d  nouveau  de  fa?on  d 
obtenir  la  meilleure  image  possible. 


D 


Additional  comments:/ 
Commentaires  suppldmentaires.- 


This  item  is  filmed  at  the  reduction  ratio  checked  below/ 

Ce  document  est  film6  au  taux  de  reduction  indiqud  ci-dessous. 


10X 

14X 

18X 

22X 

26X 

30X 

y 

12X                              16X                             20X 

24X 

28X 

32X 

ails 

du 

tdifier 

une 

nage 


The  copy  filmed  here  has  been  reproduced  thanks 
to  the  generosity  of: 

National  Library  of  Canada 


The  images  appearing  here  are  the  best  quality 
possible  considering  the  condition  and  legibility 
of  the  original  copy  and  in  keeping  with  the 
filming  contract  specifications. 


Original  copies  in  printed  paper  covers  are  filmed 
beginning  with  the  front  cover  and  ending  on 
the  last  page  with  a  printed  or  illustrated  impres- 
sion, or  the  back  cover  when  appropriate.  All 
other  original  copies  are  filmed  beginning  on  th 
first  page  with  a  printed  or  illustrated  impres- 
sion, and  ending  on  the  last  page  with  a  printed 
or  illustrated  impression. 


The  last  recorded  frame  on  each  microfiche 
shall  contain  the  symbol  —o- (meaning  "CON- 
TINUED"), or  the  symbol  V  (meaning  "END"), 
whichever  applies. 

Maps,  plates,  charts,  etc.,  may  be  filmed  at 
different  reduction  ratios.  Those  too  large  to  be 
entirely  included  in  one  exposure  are  filmed 
beginning  in  the  upper  left  hand  corner,  left  to 
riyht  and  top  to  bottom,  as  many  frames  as 
required.  The  following  diagrams  illustrate  the 
method: 


L'exemplaire  filmd  fut  reproduit  grdce  d  la 
gin^rositd  de: 

Bibliothdque  nationale  du  Canada 


Las  images  suivantes  ont  dt6  reproduites  avbc  le 
plus  grand  soin,  compte  tenu  de  la  condition  et 
de  la  nettetd  de  l'exemplaire  filmd,  et  en 
conformity  avec  iles  conditions  du  contrat  de 
filmage. 

Les  exemplaires  originaux  dont  la  couverture  en 
papier  est  imprimde  sont  filmds  en  commenqant 
par  le  premier  plat  et  en  terminant  soit  par  la 
dernidre  page  qui  comporte  une  empreinte 
d'impression  ou  d'illustration,  soit  par  le  second 
plat,  selon  le  cas.  Tous  les  autres  exemplaires 
originaux  sont  film^s  en  commenqant  par  la 
premidre  page  qui  comporte  une  empreinte 
d'impression  ou  d'illustration  et  en  terminant  par 
la  dernidre  page  qui  comporte  une  telle 
empreinte. 

Un  des  symboles  suivants  apparaitra  sur  la 
dernidre  image  de  cheque  microfiche,  selon  le 
cas:  le  symbole  — ►  signjfie  "A  SUIVRE  ",  le 
symbole  V  signifie  "FIN". 

Les  cartes,  planches,  tableaux,  etc.,  peuvent  dtre 
film6s  d  des  taux  de  reduction  diff6rents. 
Lorsque  le  document  est  trop  grand  pour  dtre 
reproduit  en  un  seul  clich6,  il  est  filmd  d  partir 
de  Tangle  supdrieur  gauche,  de  gauche  d  droite, 
et  de  haut  en  bas,  en  prenant  ie  nombre 
d'images  ndcessaire.  Les  diagrammes  suivants 
illustrent  la  m6thode. 


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THE  WORLD'S  BEST  HISTORIES 

CANADA 

THE    STORY    OF    THE    DOMINION 

A   HISTORY  OF   CANADA 

FROM  ITS  EARLY  DISCOVERY 

AND    SETTLEMENT    TO    THE 

PRESENT  TIME 


BY 

J.  CASTELL  HOPKINS,  F.S.S. 


ILLUSTRATED 


® 


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THE  CO-OPERATIVE  PUBLICATION  SOCIETY 

NEW   YOHK   AND   LONDON 


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F  So !  I 


Copyright  1900 
By  W.  E.  scull 


J 


PREFACE 


>r^.it: 


;  5»ijf'ft  • 


Some  years  ago  I  had  occasion  to  state  that  "Canada  only 
needs  to  be  known  in  order  to  be  great."  Events  have  since 
greatly  strengthened  my  belief  in  the  truth  of  these  words, 
and  have  impressed  upon  my  mind  the  further  fact  that  to 
be  properly  appreciated  abroad  a  people  should  be  familiar 
with  its  own  past,  proud  of  its  own  history,  filled  with  con- 
fidence in  its  own  resources  and  strength,  and  conscious  of 
its  own  national  and  material  development. 

Are  Canadians  in  this  position  ?  It  is  to  be  feared  that 
only  a  small  minority  realize  the  conditions  mentioned.  The 
great  mass  of  the  people  look  with  admiration  and  deserved 
respect  upon  the  splendid  annals  of  the  Motherland,  her 
wars  upon  sea  and  shore,  her  heroes  in  history  and  statecraft 
and  literature  and  every  branch  of  human  progress,  her 
wealth  of  civilized  tradition  and  store  of  constitutional  lib- 
ertiejL.  Others  are  impressed  with  the  vast  object-lesson  of 
United  States  development  and  the  thrilling  records  of  its 
war  for  unity  and  freedom.  To  them  all,  it  is  to  be  feared, 
the  four  hundred  years  of  history  which  the  Dominion  boasts 
is  more  or  less  a  sweeping  shadow  upon  the  dial  of  time;  a 
matter  of  comparative  unimportance  and  little  interest. 

Yet  that  period  includes  within  itself  the  most  picturesque 
panorama  of  events  in  all  the  annals  of  the  world.     There 

DOMIKION-HI  (1) 


2 


PREFACE 


lie  within  its  shadow  the  figure  of  the  wild,  untamed  savage 
moving  over  his  native  ground  in  a  spirit  of  mingled  ferocity 
and  love  of  freedom ;  the  black-robed  Jesuit  struggling  against 
fate  and  the  fierce  will  of  the  Iroquois  in  a  spirit  of  sacrifi- 
cial fire  almost  unequaled  in  the  annals  of  martyrdom;  the 
long  procession  of  French  gentlemen  and  adventurers,  voy- 
ageurs  and  hunters,  streaming  up  the  waterways  of  the  St. 
Lawrence  and  scattering  over  the  vast  wilderness  of  half  a 
continent  in  pursuit  of  dreams  of  wealth,  or  jwwer,  or  fame ; 
the  romantic  story  of  such  lives  as  J\  i>rville  le  Moyne  and 
Charles  de  la  Tour,  such  struggles  as  those  of  Champlain 
and  the  Iroquois,  Frontenac  and  the  Americans,  Wolfe  and 
Montcalm.         -  •  . 

Through  the  shaded  aislec  of  a  primeval  forest,  over  thou- 
sands of  miles  of  lake  and  river  and  wilderness  echo  the 
sounds  of  that  "hundred  years  of  war  between  the  French  and 
English  for  the  possession  of  this  continent.  Out  of  these 
struggles  develop  the  striking  incidents  of  the  Revolutionary 
period  and  the  first  conflict  for  Canadian  independence;  out 
of  the  new  condition  of  affairs  then  created  come  the  memo- 
ries of  a  war,  in  1812,  which  was  fought  for  freedom  as 
fully,  and  marked  by  episodes  as  heroic,  as  ever  were  the 
conflicts  of  ancient  Greek  or  modern  Swiss. 

To  the  constitutional  student  there  are  no  more  interesting 
pages  in  history  than  those  describing  the  developments  of 
the  nineteenth  century  in  British  America,  and  none  which 
convey  more  lessons  in  the  follies  of  a  fanatical  freedom,  the 
strength  of  an  hereditary  loyalty,  the  value  of  a  moderate 
liberty  evolving  through  precedent  into  practice.  The  ques- 
tions connected  with  the  history  of  Canada  are,  indeed,  at  the 
very  root  of  the  annals  and  present  position  of  the  British 
Empire.     He  who  would  understand  the  situation  of  to-day 


PREFACE 


it 


I  must  know  something,  for  instance,  of  the  prolonged  strug- 
gle between  British  and  America q  tendencies  and  influence 
which  permeate«  the  whole  modern  development  of  the  Cana- 
dian people  from  the  annexationist  views  of  Papineau  and 
Mackenzie  to  the  continental  aims  of  Mr.  Erastus  Wiman 
or  Mr.  Goldwin  Smith ;  from  tlie  religious  and  denomina- 
tional ties  of  early  days  between  the  two  countries  to  the 
social  and  commercial  relations  of  a  later  time;  from  the 
early  period  of  American  preachers  and  missionaries  and 
teachers  and  schoolbooks  to  the  jjresent  time  of  an  American 
cable  system  and  news  agencies  and  literature.  He  who 
understands  the  existing  loyalty  of  Canada  to  the  Empire 
will  then  realize  in  the  full  light  of  its  history  that,  despite 
the  ties  of  tradition  and  allegiance  and  sentiment,  the  main- 
tenance and  development  of  that  loyalty  is  one  of  the  miracles 
of  the  century. 

To  the  young  men  of  Canada  u  knowledge  of  its  history 
and  progress  is  not  only  desirable  but  necessary.  To  under- 
stand the  business  situation  of  to-day,  information  concern- 
ing the  financial,  fiscal,  and  commercial  development  of  the 
Dominion  is  exceedingly  useful.  To  comprehend  the  posi- 
tion of  political  parties,  the  utterances  of  public  men,  the 
principle  and  practice  of  national  administration,  a  knowl- 
edge of  the  political  struggles  and  progress  of  the  country  is 
also  essential.  In  all  these  respects  I  believe  that  the  follow- 
ing pages  may  be  found  of  some  service. 

I  have  not  tried  to  make  this  volume  a  detailed  record  of 
dates  and  incidents.  It  has  rather  been  my  desire  to  give 
an  interesting  narrative  of  the  great  events  which  go  to  the 
making  of  Canada  in  such  a  way  as  to  afford  a  summarized 
review  instead  of  a  more  or  less  dry  list  of  occurrences.  At 
the  same  time  I  trust  that  no  event  of  importance  has  beea 


I:!' 


m 


PREFACE 


left  unrecorded.  For  a  similar  reason  I  have  not  laden  the 
pages  with  foot-notes  or  references  to  the  many  hundreds  of 
volumes  with  which  occasion  has  made  me  familiar  in  the  prep- 
aration of  this  work  and  of  my  "Encyclopedia  of  Canada." 
And,  in  concluding  these  few  prefatory  words,  I  can  only 
add  the  hope  that  a  book  which  has  been  written  with  sincere 
belief  in  our  Canadian  land  and  a  deep  personal  admiration 
for  its  striking  history  may  be  found  of  interest,  and  perhaps 
sow  some  further  seeds  of  true  Canadian  sentiment  among 

our  people.    f^=  ■■m  ^     •-('!%'/' 

.   0  J.  Castbll  Hopkins. 


i\  i-\  .  >■• 


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..:x':i    ''.  i'i.'J   "  ••?  '^■^"    ' 


1/  'J  ri« 


i,,-kn.,:,. 


■rV 


CONTENTS 


!« 


«<;^1^ 


CHAPTER    I 


DISCOVEBIES   AND  EXPLOBATIONS 

A  Period  of  Myth  and  Mystery— The  Sagas  of  Iceland  and  the  Voy- 
S  P  ,*»»\Norsemen-Cabot'a  Place  in  Hiatory-Compariaon 
with  Columbus-Champlain  and  Cartier-Founding  of  Quebec 
-Di8covei7  of  the  Great  Lakes-La  Salle  and  the  Interior- 
Wo  Id'     M  English-Gradual  Unrolling  of  the  New 


15 


CHAPTER    ir 

THE  INDIANS  OP  EARLY  CANADA 

Their  Place  in  Tradition  and  Story-Their  Character  and  Customs 
—A  History  Written  in  Fire  and  Blood  over  the  Whole  C,^ 

thrpt-'^r  ?*^''  *?.*'^  Record-The  IndiaJ  of  the  ptt  and 
the  Present-Romantic  Pictures  and  Black  Shadows-The  Iro 

slTre  'Th.FnJM"rV^r'^"^.°l^^"'^^The  Lachine  M^s- 
sacre— The  English  Colonists  ind  the  Indians— The  British  Gov- 

rdTh"'  P^'T'.'^'"*  t'^'  Indian-The  Iroquois  of  New  York 


86 


CHAPTER    III 

THE    JESUIT    MISSIONS    AND    PIONEEE    CHBISTTANITT    '     / 

The  Pioneers  of  Empire  in  New  France— The  Jesuits  and  Their 
Work— Extraordinary  Character  of  these  Black-robed  Martyrs 
to  their  Faith— Success  with  the  Hurons— Failure  Among  the 
Iroquois— A  Long  Story  of  Privation,  Self-sacrifice,  Adven- 
ture, Torture,  and  Frequent  Death— Lallemant  and  Br^beuf— 
^•«^^^  ^^^^  ^"  Quebec— Laval  and  Briand  and  Plessis 
—Difficulties  and  Disputes,  Power  and  Progress— Loyalty  to 
Great  Britain  and  Wisdom  in  Administration ...  66 


CONTENTS 


CHAPTER    IV 


THE   LAND  OF   EVANOEUNB 

Founding  of  Acadie — Champlain  and  Do  Monts  and  Poutrincourt 
— Sufferings  and  Hardships  of  the  Early  Settlers — Sir  William 
Alexander  and  the  English  Claims — Internal  and  External  Hos- 
tilities— The  Story  of  De  la  Tour  and  Charnisay — Rival  Colo- 
nists and  Races  and  Varying  Warfare — Treaties  and  Trans- 
fers of  Allegiance — Sir  William  Phipps  at  Port  Royal — Final 
British  Conquest — Continuous  Border  Troubles  with  Quebec — 
Conduct  and  Character  of  the  Acadians — Hiawatha  at  the  Bar 
of  History — The  Expulsion  of  the  Acadians — Governor  Ijaw- 
rence  and  his  Reasons — The  End  of  Acadie  and  the  Birth  of 
a  New  Era 


G8 


CHAPTER    V 

THE  FRENCH  AND  ENQLISH  WAB8 

Kivalry  and  Warfare  of  a  Century — Prolonged  Conflict  for  the 
Possession  of  a  Continent — French  Aims  and  Character — En- 
glish Progress  and  Expansion — Feudalism  versus  Freedom; 
Military  Ambition  versus  Commercial  Development — Gallantry 
of  the  French  in  their  Defiance  of  Fate — Greatness  of  their 
Plans  and  the  One-time  Possibility  of  Success — Frontenae  and 
Talon — War  and  Massacre  and  Battle — The  Hatchet  and  Scalp- 
ing-knife  of  the  Indians,  and  the  Roar  of  European  Guns  in 
the  vast  Forest  Areas  of  America — De  Tracy  and  De  Courcelles 
— Denonville  of  Quebec,  and  Dongan  of  New  York — Sieges  of 
Quebec — Brilliant  Career  of  D'Iberville — Sieges  of  Louisbourg 
— Montcalm  and  Wolfe — Capture  of  Quebec  and  the  Last  Days 
of  New  France 


86 


,/"■:'/■■,„;";  ,^,"    CHAPTER  VI     ,-^..,.^....    t.  .-^^v  -■-. 

COLONTAL  RIVALRY   AND  REVOLUTION  j  '   '  f     '  ^ 

Antagonism  of  the  French  in  Quebec  and  the  English  in  the  Thir- 
teen Colonies — Influences  of  Race  and  Religion  and  Historic 
Rivalries — The  Quebec  Act  and  the  English  Colonies — Guy 
Carleton,  Lord  Dorchester — Gradual  Evolution  of  American 
Discontent — Quebec  Remains  Passively  Loyal  to  the  Crown — 
Efforts  to  Divert  its  Allegiance — Washington  and  D'Estaing  .  ? 
Appeal  to  French  Canadians — Franklin  in  Montreal — Declara- 
tion of  American  Independence  and  Invasion  of  Canada — Carle- 
ton  Saves  the  Country  to  England — Progress  of  the  Revolution 
— Treaty  of  Peace  and  Canadian  Losses  of  Territory — Old  Que- 
bec Dismembered  and  the  Ohio  Valley  Given  to  the  New  Re- 
public— Diverse  Development  North  and  South  of  the  Great 
Lakes    10« 


T 


CONTENTS 


CHAPTER    VII 

'  THE   LOYALIST    PI0NEEB8 

Genesis  of  the  American  Tories,  or  Canadian  Loyalists  of  a  Later  rj 
Time — Principles,  Traditions,  and  General  Position — Loyalty 
to  the  Kinp — Lights  and  Shadows  in  the  Life  and  Character 
of  George  III — Sufferings  of  the  Loyalist  Refugees  to  the 
Canados  and  New  Brunswick — Hardships  of  Pioneer  Life — 
Stories  in  the  Making  of  a  Nation  and  Country — New  Insti- 
tutions built  on  Old-time  Traditions — Loyalty  to  the  Sov- 
ereign as  the  Basis  of  Life  and  Work  in  a  Vast  Wilderness       120 


CHAPTER    VIII 


EARLY  CONSTITUTIONAL  DEVELOPMENT 


■'f 


)      -l 


French  Canadians  not  Ready  at  the  Cession,  nor  for  Many  Years 
Afterward,  to  Receive  the  Full  Forms  of  British  Freedom — The 
Military  Reffime,  the  Quebec  Act,  and  the  Constitutional  Act 
— ^The  Expansion  of  Quebec  in  1775  and  its  Restriction  and  Di- 
vision in  1791 — British  Government  makes  the  Mistake  of 
Beginning  at  the  Top  instead  of  at  the  Bottom  of  the  Frame- 
work of  Free  Institutions — Frenchmen  Born  and  Bred  In  the 
Traditions  of  Louis  XIV,  Frontenac,  and  Bigot — Piaying  at 
Parliamentary  Government — The  Situation  Difforent  in  the 
Loyalist  Provinces 133 


CHAPTER    IX  X: 

THE  WAB   OF    1812-15 


.....v^  . 


.'  ..  .' 


Clauses  and  Issues  of  the  Conflict — Disproportion  of  Forces,  and 
American  Expectation  of  an  Immediate  Conquest  of  Canada — 
The  Difficulties  of  England — Napoleon  Bonaparte  and  the 
United  States — War  Declared  by  the  Republic — The  Gaunt- 
let Taken  up  and  Flung  back  by  Brock  at  the  Capture  of  De- 
troit and  the  Conflict  on  Queenston  Heights — Invasions  Re- 
pulsed, and  the  Varying  Results  of  Minor  Actions  in  three  Im- 
portant Campaigns — Gallantry  of  Teeumseh  and  the  Indians 
— Weakness  of  Prevost  and  Defeat  of  Procter  at  Moravian- 
town — American  Victories  on  the  Lakes — British  or  Canadian 
Victories  at  Chateauguay,  Lacolle  Mills,  Stony  Creek,  Chryst- 
ler's  Farm,  and  Lundy's  Lane — Landing  of  Peninsular  Vet- 
erans at  Quebec — Disaster  at  Plattsburg;  Capture  of  Wash- 
ington; Defeat  at  New  Orleans  and  End  of  the  War — The 
Treaty  of  Peace — Canadian  Heroes  and  Homes  in  the  Struggle 
— Brock,  Teeumseh,  De  Salaberry,  Fitzgibbon,  Harvey,  Morri- 

;      Bon,  McDonnell,  and  Drummond 149 


CONTENTS 


CHAPTER    X 

Alf    EBA    or   AGITATION 

Development  of  Discontent  in  Lower  Canada — Moderate  French- 
men in  a  very  Small  Minority — English  and  French  Antago- 
nisms— The  French  Majority  Seizes  its  Opportunity — The  As- 
sembly becomes  a  Convenient  Tool  for  Racial  Control  of  the 
Province — Papineau  as  an  Orator,  an  Agitator,  and  a  Budding 
Rebel — Nei?  on,  Morin,  Viger,  Sewell,  and  other  Lower  Canada 
Leaders — The  Governors  and  their  Difficulties — Grievances, 
Real  and  Fancied — The  Nii.ety-two  Resolutions — Attitude  and 
Policy  of  the  Tories — In  Upper  Canada  and  Down  by  the  At- 
lantic— Clergy  Reserves  and  other  Issxies — Benefits  of  the  Loy- 
alist Regime — Mackenzie  Appears  on  the  Scene  in  Succession 
to  Thorpe,  Gourlay,  and  other  Agitators — His  Struggles  and 
Aspirations  and  Policy — ^Alliance  with  Papineau — English 
Radicals  and  Canadian  Reformers — Agitation  steadily  De- 
velops Disloyalty  and  Rebellion  in  the  two  Canadas — Different 
Results  of  Controversy  on  the  Atlantic  Seaboard.    169 


CHAPTER    XI 

THE  TROUBLES   OF    1837-38 

Progress  of  Sedition  in  the  Canadas — Attitude  of  the  Governors — 
Co'bome  and  Bond  Head — Extreme  Views  and  Violence  of 
Papineau  and  Mackenzie — Comparative  Moderation  of  Howe 
and  Baldwin — ^The  Tory  Position  on  tho  Verge  of  the  Outbreak 
— Conflicts  in  Lower  Canada — The  Short  and  Sharp  Struggle  in 
Upper  Canada — Punishment  of  the  Rebels — Border  Troubles 
and  Relations  with  the  United  States — Raids  and  other  Re- 
sults— Lord  Durham's  Brief  Regime — The  Rebellion  in  History 
and  Politics , 191 


CHAPTER  XII 

LOBD  DURHAM  AND  THE  UNION  OF  1841 


Remarkable  Character  of  the  Earl  of  Durh^.Tn — His  Policy  and 
Short  Administration — His  Famous  Report  the  Basis  of  Co- 
lonial Constitutions  Everywhere — Recommends  the  Union  of 
the  Canadas — Obstacles  to  the  Project — Condition  of  the  People 
and  Politics — Racial  Complications — Carried  in  Upper  Canada 
through  the  Tory  Spirit  of  Loyalty — Influence  and  Policy  of 
Lord  Sydenham — The  Principles  and  Bases  of  Union — Its  Crea- 
tion and  First  Fruits 203 


CONTENTS 


CH.xPTER  XIII 

THE    HUDSON'S    BAY    COMPANY    AND    THE    FAB    WEST 

Foundation  and  Early  Annals  of  the  Company — The  Great  Wilder- 
ness of  the  Far  West — The  Red  River  Settlement — Lord  Sel- 
kirk and  his  Times — The  Indians  and  the  Half-breeds — Ex- 
plorations and  Discoveries — The  Rival  Fur  Com|)anie3 — Expan- 
sion of  the  Hudson's  Bay  Company — Early  History  of  British 
Columbia — The  Company  and  Colonization — Vancouver  Island 
and  the  Mainland — Prince  Rupert's  Land  and  Negotiations 
with  Canada — The  Passing  Power  of  a  Great  Company 


213 


CHAPTER  XIV 

THE    STRUGGLES    FOB    BE8PONSIBLE    GOVERNMENT  „    i 

Conditions  Prevalent  after  the  Union  of  the  Canadas — What  the 
Advocates  of  Responsible  Government  Wanted — Reason  for 
Opposition — The  Governors  and  the  Colonial  Office — Bagot, 
Metcalfe,  and  Elgin — The  Political  Leaders  and  the  Issue — 
Draper  and  McNab,  Baldwin  and  Lafontaine — Lord  Elgin  Set- 
tles the  Question — In  the  Maritime  Provinces — Howe  and  the 
Governors  of  Nova  Scotia — Varied  Phases  of  the  Issue — 
Fish«>r  and  Wilmot  in  New  Brunswick — Satisfactory  Solution 
of  an  Important  Controversy 226 

::;>.,.,,,.:..,,;/  ,.,,r     .        CHAPTER     XV    :    ..,..■■.,,     i,-;     .,-;:,^    ,  .,      ,, 
POLITIOAL   REFORMS   AND    GENERAL   PROGRESS 

The  Troubles  of  1849 — The  Rebellion  Losses  Bill— Riots  and  Elec- 
tions— British  Free  Trade  and  One  of  its  Results — A  Perambu- 
lating Parliament — The  British-American  League  and  the 
Early  Days  of  Sir  John  Macdonald — George  Bro\\'n  comes  to 
the  Front — Abolition  of  the  Seigneurial  Tenure — Settlement 
of  the  Clergy  Reserves — Political  Complications  and  Parties 
in  the  Canadas — On  the  Verge  of  Deadlock — Position  of  Af- 
fairs in  the  Maritime  Provinces — Rise  of  Charles  Tupper  and 
Leonard  Tiiley  into  Prominence — The  Graud  Trunk  and  the 
Intercolonial— Gradual  Growth  of  the  Provinces 242 


CHAPTER  XVI 

f  . 

BKOIPBOCITY  AND  THE  UNITED   STATES   CIVIL  WAB 

The  Early  Fiscal  Policy  of  the  Provinces — Abolition  of  British 
Preferential  Duties — The  Public  Mind  Turns  to  the  States — 
Lord  Elgin's  Ability  and  Diplomacy — Visits  Washington  and 


10 


CONTENTS 


Obtains  the  Treaty  of  1854 — Its  Nature  and  Benefits — Its 
Tenure  and  Disadvantages — Different  Interpretations — The 
Gait  Tariff  in  the  Cauadas — Complaints  by  the  United  States 
— The  Civil  War  and  the  Supposed  Attitude  of  England — Her 
Real  Position  and  that  of  the  Provinces — The  Alabama  Claims 
and  Fenian  Raids  Result  from  the  War — The  General  Nature 
of  the  International  Situation — Its  Effect  upon  British  America 


261 


CHAPTER  XVII 

THE  CONFEDEBATION  OP  THE  PBOVINCES 

Origin  of  Confederation — Early  Advocates  of  the  Idea — Causes 
which  Brought  it  to  the  Front  in  1864-66 — The  Conferences 
at  Charlottetown  and  Quebec — Who  was  the  Father  of  Con- 
federation?— Meeting  in  London — British  Statesmen  Support 
the  Policy  of  Union — Its  Necessity  and  Desirability — A  Crisis 
in  British  Colvjnial  History — The  Influence  of  John  A.  Mac- 
donald — Debates  in  the  Canadian  Legislature — Attitude  of 
Cartier  and  Dorion  in  Lower  Canada — Of  Howe,  and  Tupper, 
and  Tilley  in  the  Maritime  Provinces — Of  McGee,  and  Gait, 
and  George  Brown  in  the  Canadas — Accomplishment  of  the 
Policy  and  Birth  of  the  Dominion  of  Canada 273 


CHAPTER  XVIII 

COMPLETING    CONFEDERATION 

The  Situation  of  Affairs  on  July  1,  1867 — Sir  John  Macdonald 
Forms  the  first  Dominion  Government — A  Nominal  Coalition 
— Organization  of  a  new  Administrative  System — Purchase 
.  of  Rupert's  Land  and  Creation  of  Manitoba — The  Insurrec- 
tion at  Fort  Garry — Wolseley  and  Riel — The  Admission  of 
Manitoba  to  the  Union — Organization  of  the  Territories — 
Admission  of  British  Columbia — Prince  Edward  Island  also 
Comes  in — The  Federal  Situation  in  Nova  Scotia  and  its  So- 
lution        286 


CHAPTER    XIX 


THE  TREATY  OP  WASHINGTON 

Relations  with  the  United  States  after  the  Abrogation  of  the  Reci- 
procity Treaty — The  Joint  High  Commission  of  1871 — Its  Com- 
position and  Objects — Sir  John  Macdonald's  Difficult  Position 
— The  Fenian  Raid  Claims  and  Canadian  Fisheries — Conclu- 
sion of  the  Treaty — Opinion  in  Canada  and  its  Ultimate  Pas- 
sage through  Parliament — Important  Issues  Involved — ^The 
Patriotic  Attitude  of  Canada — Relations  of  Great  Britain  and 
the  United  States 301 


CONTENTS 


11 


CHAPTER    XX 

POUTICAL   QUESTIONS    AND   DEVELOPMENT 

The  Party  System  in  the  New  Dominion— Changes  and  Trans- 
formations— Policy  of  Sir  John  A.  Macdonald — Disappear- 
anie  of  Old  Issues — The  Provinces  in  New  Clothes — ^Their  Min- 
isters and  Parties — Complications  Between  the  Dominion  and 
Provincial  Authorities — Improvement  in  Parliament  and  Poli- 
tics— Broader  Views  and  Bigger  Minds — Position  and  Charac- 
ter of  the  Governors-General — The  Joly  Question  in  Quebec 
—The  General  Elections  of "  1872  and  1874 312 


CHAPTER    XXI  :j 

THE  NATIONAL  POLICY  OF  PROTECTION  1 

Fiscal  Relations  of  the  New  Dominion  with  the  United  States —  i 
Change  in  Conditions — The  Tariff  Remains  at  a  Revenue  Level  ^ 
— Industrial  Competition  and  Growing  Depression  in  Canada   , 
— ^A  Protective  Tariff  Advocated — Sir  John  Macdonald  Takes 
Up  the  Question — Resolutions  in  the  House  of  Commons — Op- 
posed by  the  Government — General  Election  of  1878 — ^Victory     -  ' 
of  the  Conservatives — ^The  Macdonald  Ministry  and  its  Policy 
—The  "N.  P."  Tariff  Passes  Parliament  in  1879— Principles 
of  Protection  in  Canada — Its  Ups  and  Downs  and  Final  Ac- 
ceptance by  all  Parties 330 


CHAPTER   XXII 


OONSTBUOTION   OF  THE   CANADIAN    PACIFIC   BAILWAT 

The  Principle  of  a  Continental  Highway  and  its  Early  Advocates 
— The  Pledge  *'o  British  Columbia — The  Promoters  of  1872  and 
their  Troubles — Mr.  Mackenzie  and  the  Policy  of  his  Govern- 
ment—The Syndicate  of  1880 — Sir  Charles  Tupper  Takes  Up 
the  Question — ^The  Macdonald  Grovemment  Presses  the  Final 
-  Contract  through  Parliament — Building  of  the  Great  Rail- 
way— Difficulties  and  Obstacles — George  Stephen  and  Donald 
A.  Smith — Triumph  of  the  Company  and  Completion  of  the 
Railway — ^A  Great  Undertaking  and  its  Importance  to  Canada 


339 


CHAPTER   XXIII 


K.,M^k—J^ 


THE    NORTH- WEST    AND    THE    REBELLION    OF    1886 

The  People  and  Position  of  the  Territories — Causes  of  the  Insur- 
rection— Appearance  of  Louis  Riel  on  the  Scene — ^The  Indians 
and  the  Half-breeds — Policy  of  the  Government — Breaking 
out   of    the  Rebellion — ^Troops   Hurried   from   all   Parts   oi 


m 


CONTENTS 


Canada  to  the  Banks  of  the  Saskatchewan — General  Middleton 
as  a  Commander — Success  of  his  Tactics  and  Ultimate  Tri- 
umph of  his  Political  Adversaries — Conflicts  at  Fish  Creek, 
Cut-Knife,  and  Batoche — Capture  and  Execution  of  Kiel— Re- 
sults of  the   Rising 364 


CHAPTER  XXIV 

QUGBEO   AND   THE   JESUITS   ESTATES    QUESTION 

Political  Issues  in  Quebec  and  the  Position  of  the  Church — The 
Habitant  and  the  Clergy — Twenty  Years  of  Conservative  Suc- 
cess— The  Rise  and  Diverse  Characteristics  of  Mercier  and 
Laurier — The  Riel  Question  and  the  People  of  Quebec — Posi- 
tion of  Chapleau,  Langevin,  and  Caron — Triumph  of  Mercier  in 
Provincial  Politics  and  of  Chapleau  in  the  Dominion  Elections 
— Genesis  of  the  Jesuits  Estates — Appeal  to  the  Pope — Pas- 
sage of  the  Grant  to  the  Jesuits — Agitation  in  Ontario  and 
Birth  of  the  Equal  Rights  Party — Refusal  of  the  Dominion 
Government  to  Interfere  with  the  Legislation — D'Alton  Mc- 
Carthy and  the  "Noble  Thirteen" — A  Very  Living  Question  for 
a  Time — its  Decay  and  the  Fall  of  Mercier  in  Quebec 370 


CHAPTER   XXV 

TBADE    AND    TARIFFS    AND   UNBESTBICTED    BECIPBOCITT 

The  Progress  of  Canadian  Trade — Popularity  of  Protection — 
Changes  in  Liberal  Tariff  Policy — Mackenzie,  Blake,  and  Lau- 
rier in  this  Connection — Natural  Pessimism  of  the  Opposition 
— Erastus  Wiman  Appears  on  the  Scene  in  1887 — Sir  Richard 
Cartwright,  Goldwiii  Smith,  and  the  New  Scheme  of  Commer- 
cial Union,  or  Unrestricted  Reciprocity — Progress  of  the  Move- 
ment in  Parliament  and  the  Country — American  versus  Brit-  -tf  J' 
ish  Relations  at  Issue — ^The  Elections  of  1891 — Manifestoes 
of  Sir  John  Maidonald  and  Wilfrid  Laurier — The  Hottest  Con- 
test in  Canadian  History — ^The  New  Proposals  Defeated — Grad- 
ual Decay  of  the  Idea  and  its  Final  Disappearance  in  the  Elec- 
tions of  1896 386 


CHAPTER   XXVI 


...  MANITOBA    AND    THE    SCHOOL    QUESTION 

Progress  of  Manitoba  After  its  Union  with  iinada — Material  In- 
terests the  Chief  Concern  of  its  Scattered  People — Education 
Finds  an  Important  Place — Separate  Schools  and  the  Roman 
Catholic  Population — Position  of  Archbishop  Tach^ — ^Legisla- 
tion and  the  Schools — .Joseph  Martin  Advocates  "National" 
Schools — Abolition  in  189C  of  the  Existing  System — Catholic 
Appeals  to  the  Courts  and  to  the  Judicial  Committee  in  Lon* 


CONTENTS 


13 


154 


d(Mi — Decisions  of  the  Latter  Body  and  Appeal  to  the  Gover- 
nor-General-in-Council — Excitement  among  French  Canadians 
and  Ontario  Orangemen — Difficult  Position  of  the  Dominion 
Government — The  Remedial  Order — Attitude  of  Sir  M.  Bowell 
and  Sir  C.  Tupper — Of  Mr.  Laurier  and  the  Opposition — Po- 
sition of  the  Hierarchy — Political  Conflict  and  Confusion — 
The  Elections  of  1896  and  the  Policy  of  the  New  Government 


406 


CHAPTER   XXVII 


THE    SOUTH    AFRICAN    WAR   AND   IMPERIALISM    IN   CANADA 


370 


Position  of  Canada  in  the  Empire — Responsibilities  not  Always 
Recognized — The  Outbreak  of  the  War — Popular  Opinion  in 
the  Colonies — Influence  of  the  Imperial  Federation  League — 
Precedents  for  Sending  the  Contingents — History  of  their  De- 
spatch— Patriotic  Enthusiasm  of  the  People — Position  of  Lord 
Minto,  Sir  VV.  Laurier,  and  Sir  C.  Tupper — Major-General 
Hutton  and  the  Militia — ^The  Colonial  Office  and  Canada — Gal- 
lantry of  Canadian  Troops  in  South  Africa — Growth  of  British 
Sentiment  in  Canada — Attitude  of  Quebec  and  Mr.  J.  Israel 
Tarte — Possible  Results  of  the  War  and  of  Colonial  Participa- 
tion— A  New  Empire  and  a  Greater  Canada 424 


CHAPTER  XXVIII 


A   REVIEW   OP  POPULAR  PROGRESS 


386 


Growth  of  Internal  Liberty  and  the  Practice  of  Self-government — 
The  Old-time  Legislatures  and  the  New — French  Canadians 
and  British  Institutions — The  Toryism  of  1800  and  the  Democ- 
racy of  1900 — Extension  of  Education — Journalism  and  Lit- 
erature— The  Churches  and  Religion — Growth  of  the  Principles 
of  Toleration — Ihe  People  and  their  Social  Progress — Develop- 
ment of  Patriotism — The  Militia  and  its  Growth — Out  of 
Provincialism  into  Nationality — Canada  for  Canadians  Within        ; 

.;;       the    Empire 440 


CHAPTER   XXIX 


THE  GROWTH  OF  NATIONAL  PROSPERITY 


Trade  Between  the  Provinces — Industrial  Expansion — Growth  of 
the  Northwest — Wheat  Upon  the  Prairies — Cattle  in  the  Ter- 
ritories— Mineral  Wealth  of  British  Columbia  and  the  Yukon — 
Agriculture  and  the  Position  of  the  Farmer — Mining  in  On- 
tario and  Nova  Scotia — Commercial  Expansion — Progress  of 
Canals,  Railways,  and  Steamship  Lines — Shipping,  Banking, 
and  Fisheries — Competition  and  General  Progress 466 


14 


CONTENTS 


CHAPTER  XXX 

EXTEENAL  RELATIONS  OF  THE  DOMINION 

Treaties  between  Great  Britain  and  the  United  States— Those  of 
1783  and  1818-A  General  Review  of  the  Relations  and  Mutual 
Interests  of  the  United  Kingdom,  Canada  aiid  the  Amencan 
Republic-Treaties  which  have  Failed-Fishenes  and  Reci- 
procity-The  Bering  Sea  Arbitration-Canada,  Venezuela, 
Snd  the  Monroe  Doctrine-The  Alask^  Boundary-American 
Efforts  at  Annexation-Canadian  Option  upon  the  Subject 
-Feeling  Toward  the  Motherland-Past  Complexities  in  the 
Situatiol-The  Present  View  and  Probable   Future 484 


m 


CHAPTER  XXXI 

THE  OPENING  OF  THE  NEW  CENTUEY 

The  Death  of  Queen  Yictoria— The  Acceasion  of  p^ard  "^"-TJ^® 
Eoval  Tour  of  the  Duke  and  Duchess  of  Cornwall  and  york-Their 
?oJr  Ac'o  3  the  Continent-Canada  and  the  South  African  War- 
Honorable  Distinction  for  Her  Troops-Federa  ^^lections  of  900- 
Death  of  Marquis  of  Dulf erin-Coronation  of  King  l<>dward  \  Il-Im- 
perial  Confer^enco  in  London-Death  of  Sir  Oliver  Mowat-New 
Transcontinental  Railway  Project-Alaska  Boundary  Tnbuual- 
GraXiSk  Pacific  Railway-Lord  Dundonald's  Dismissal-Gen- 
eralElect  o^fs  of  1904-Great  Liberal  Gains-Retiremont  of  Earl  of 
M?ato-ES  Srcy  Appointed  Governor-General-Archb.shop  of 
Can  erbu  V  and  other  Notable  Visito.s-Separate  School  Question  in 
New  Povinces-Inaugnration  of  New  Provinces  of  Alberta  and 
iskatchewan-Marvelons  Growth  of  North-West  Canada- Anti- 
Japanese  R;.ce  Riots  in  Vancouver-Quebec  Tercentenary  Celebra- 
tion-Canada'8  Growth,  Development,  and  Future  Prospects bOi 


..?■■• 


THE   STORY  OF  THE   DOMINION 


CHAPTER  I 


>V',' 


DISCOVERIES  AND   EXPLORATIONS 

FLOATING  down  the  stream  of  the  ages  have  come 
many  interesting  myths  and  traditions  regarding  the 
Continent  of  America  and  that  half  of  its  vast  area 
which  has  since  become  the  Dominion  of  Canada.  Plato, 
the  Greek,  described  a  mighty  island  of  Atlantis  which  was 
supposed  to  have  been  submerged  by  the  waters  of  a  bound- 
less sea,  but  was  far  more  probably  shrouded  from  sight  by 
passing  centuries  of  ignorant  indifference.  Seneca,  the 
Spanish  teacher  of  the  youthful  Nero,  taught  his  Imperial 
pupil  of  a  great  continent  which  should  one  day  defy  the 
darkness  of  unknown  waters  and  appear  beyond  the  ultimate 
bounds  of  Thule.  A  Chinese  record  of  the  fifth  century  in- 
dicates a  possible  Buddhist  visit  to  Mexico ;  and  Welsh  tradi- 
tions of  a  later  date  record  the  mythical  voyage  of  Madoc, 
in  the  twelfth  century,  to  a  far  western  country  where  he 
saw  many  strange  sights  and  scenes.  The  sifting  influence 
of  historic  research  has,  however,  left  these  and  many  other 
stories  to  take  their  place  beside  the  romantic  quest  for  the 
Golden  Fleece  and  similar  legends  of  an  olden  time. 


.;.,;,         ,    VOYAGES   OF   THE   NORSEMEN        /v   '        '>r,w   ■*>'•:; 

More  satisfactory,  because  more  stable  in  basis,  are  the 
records  of  Norse  invasion  and  Viking  adventure.  Sailing 
from  out  their  rugged  shores  about  the  middle  of  the  Chris- 
tian era,  these  wandering  ocean  warriors  played  a  great  part 
in  the  history  of  lands  bordering  upon  the  sea.      Brave  to 

(15) 


16 


THE   STORY   OF   THE    DOMINION 


rashness,  and  sturdy  and  stubborn  in  pursuit  of  gold,  or 
silver,  or  precious  stones,  they  made  piracy  almost  respecta- 
ble in  days  when  power  belonged  to  him  who  could  hold  it, 
and  property  to  him  who  could  take  it.  There  seems  little 
reason  to  doubt  that  the  small  but  strong  wooden  vessels 
of  the  sea-kings  sighted  the  shores  of  America  and  beached 
their  prows  on  the  coast  of  Canada.  Iceland  and  the  Faroe 
Islands,  we  know,  were  settled  by  the  Norsemen  in  the  ninth 
century.  Eric  the  Red,  of  Norway,  occupied  the  coast  of 
Greenland  in  A.D.  986,  and  one  of  his  colonists  was  a  little 
later  swept  by  stormy  seas  into  sight  of  unknown  lands  to 
the  south  and  west.  Leif  Ericson,  in  the  year  1000,  under- 
took the  exploration  of  these  strange  new  regions,  and  ap- 
pears to  have  touched  the  continent  where  Labrador  now  is. 
Other  points  which  he  claims  to  have  seen  were  called  Hellu- 
land,  Markland,  and  Vinland.  Whether  these  places  were 
really  the  Island  of  Newfoundland,  the  coast  of  Nova  Scotia, 
and  the  shores  of  Massachusetts,  as  is  respectively  alleged, 
will  probably  remain  a  hopelessly  disputed  point.  ,fr 

'  TALES  OF  VIKING   HEROES  ■     *       '' 

There  are  strong  reasons  for  believing  in  some  measure 
the  truth  of  the  Icelandic  Sagas,  from  whence  these  tradi- 
tions are  derived,  and  it  is  probable  that  the  songs  which 
thus  sing  weird  tales  of  Viking  heroes  upon  the  Atlantic 
shores  of  Canada  and  the  United  States  have  a  firmer  ground 
of  fact  to  support  their  swelling  words  than  has  many  an 
accepted  event  of  old-time  Eastern  and  European  history. 
Still,  so  far  as  the  world  at  large  was  concerned,  nothing 
but  faint  rumors  and  mythical  tales  had  resulted  from  these 
passing  settlements  upon  the  soil  of  America  or  sweeping 
glimpses  of  its  lonely  shores.  '  ^    ■ 

To  really  make  this  vast  region  known  to  humanity  re- 
quired a  pe?iod  of  growing  maritime  commerce  as  well  as 
of  stirring  adventure — a  time  when  the  Orient,  with  its 
wealth  of  mystery  and  romance,  of  silks  and  spices,  of  gold 
and  silver  and  gems,  was  being  brought  closer  to  the  eye 


DISCOVERIES    AND   EXPLORATIONS 


n 


and  the  mind  of  Europe.  It  required  the  discovery  of  the 
compass  and  the  wider  knowledge  of  navigation  which  grew 
so  naturally  out  of  that  event  It  was  made  imminent  by 
the  Portuguese  discovery  of  the  Cape  of  Good  Hope,  in 
1486,  and  inevitable  by  the  growth  of  British  maritime  am- 
bitions and  the  sea-dog  spirit  of  the  sturdy  islanders.  It 
became  a  fact  when  Columbus,  after  imbibing  the  love  of 
the  sea  from  his  birthplace  of  Genoa,  sailed  the  Mediter- 
ranean and  the  nearer  waters  of  the  Atlantic  for  twenty 
years  and  then  made  up  his  mind  to  discover  a  direct  route 
to  the  East  Indies.  For  long  after  coming  to  this  conclu- 
sion, he  haunted  the  courts  of  Europe,  and  finally  impressed 
his  belief  in  these  new  lands,  and  his  faith  in  a  new  route 
to  the  East,  upon  the  generous  Isabella  of  Castile.  The  dis- 
covery of  San  Salvador  and  other  islands  of  the  West  India 
group  which  followed,  in  the  memorable  year  1492,  opened 
the  way  not  only  to  a  new  world  in  territorial  magnitude, 
but  to  the  greatest  empires  of  history  and  to  newer  civiliza- 
tions and  larger  liberties.  ^  .^«  ...    ,,(<.; 

CABOT  S    PLACE    IN    HISTORY 

It  remained,  however,  for  a  Venetian,  sailing  under  the 
flag  of  England,  to  first  touch  the  mainland  of  the  conti- 
nent. John  Cabot  has  only  now,  after  lying  in  the  silence 
of  forgotten  dust  during  four  long  centuries,  come  into  rec- 
ognized honor  and  deserved  renown.  Whether,  in  1497,  he 
touched  the  shores  of  Canada  amid  the  cold  and  ice  of  Labra- 
dor, or  in  the  wilder  country  of  Nova  Scotia,  there  seems 
every  reason  to  believe  that  he  did  reach  it  somewhere  be- 
tween those  two  regions.*     A  monument  at  Bristol,  from 


*  Authorities  differ  greatly  in  opinion  as  to  Cabot's  landing-place. 
Judge  Prowse  believes  that  he  first  touched  the  shores  of  Newfoundland, 
while  Dr.  Harvey  favors  the  Cape  Breton  theory.  Labrador  is  supported 
by  H.  Harrisae,  and  in  earlier  days  by  Humboldt  and  Biddle.  But  the 
bulk  of  modem  opinion,  including  Sir  Clements  Markham,  Signor  Tar- 
dueci,  R.  G.  Thwaites,  and  Sir  J.  G.  Bourinot,  is  strongly  in  favor  of 
Cape  Breton  as  the  landing-place.  This  view  has  recently  received  almost 
conclusive  support  and  proof  at  the  hands  of  Dr.  S.E.  Dawson,  of  Ottawa. 


18 


THE  STORY   OF   THE   DOMINION 


which  he  sailed,  and  a  memorial  at  Halifax,  which  he  made 
possible  as  u  British  seaport  and  city,  agree  in  marking  the 
great  importance  of  his  work.  Columbus,  of  course,  had 
preceded  him  in  touching  the  island  fringe  of  the  continent; 
but  tlic  great  unknown  mainland  still  rested  in  the  shadow 
of  silent  ages.  And  it  is  now  remembered  at  the  bar  of  his- 
tory that  Cabot  sailed  seas  of  a  stormier  character  than 
Columbus  ever  saw;  that  his  resources  were  infinitely  less; 
that  his  rewards  were  far  smaller,  while  his  life-work  was 
disregarded  for  centuries.  ,  ^  w;  v 

Yet  it  was  he  who  first  planted  the  English  flag  upon 
American  shores,  and  paved  the  way  for  English  settlements 
in  Newfoundland  and  English  naval  supremacy  in  western 
seas.  His  discovery  gave  an  immediate  impetus  also  to  the 
maritime  spirit  of  England,  and  it  supplied  a  later  claim 
for  her  to  share  in  the  soil  and  history  and  stirring  develop- 
ment of  the  whole  American  continent,     j   >: .     .,  -      ,  - 

Following  Columbus  and  Cabot  came  a  stream  of  adven- 
turers, explorers,  and  navigators.  Sebastian,  a  son  of  John 
Cabot,  sailed  along  the  shores  of  the  new  land  from  Nova 
Scotia  to  the  region  of  Hudson's  Straits  and  was  probably 
appalled  by  the  melancholy  dreariness  of  the  coasts  of  Lab- 
rador. The  eastern  coast,  further  to  the  south,  was  ex- 
plored in  1498  by  Americus  Vespucius,  and  after  him  the 
whole  continent  came  in  time  to  be  called.  A  few  years 
later,  Cortereal,  a  Portuguese,  inspired  by  the  enterprise 
which  in  those  days  gavef  his  country  an  empire  of  com- 
merce and  unappreciated  soil,  explored  the  shores  of  New- 
foundland and  Labrador  and  inaugurated  the  intercourse 
of  Europeans  with  the  Red  men  by  carrying  a  number  of 
them  away  into  slavery.  In  1506,  Denis  of  Honfleur,  a 
Erenchman  of  unrecorded  position,  visited  the  future  Gulf 
of  St.  Lawrence  and  boldly  declared  the  whole  region  an- 
nexed to  France  and  subject  to  its  Crown.  He  brought  back 
with  him  a  kidnapped  Indian  child,  which  represented  the 
brutal  instincts  of  so-called  civilization  when  in  contact 
with  barbarism;  a  considerable  fund  of  knowledge  which 


DISCOVERIES   AND    EXPLORATIONS 


John 
Nova 
obably 
Lab- 
ex- 
the 
years 
erprise 
f  com- 
f  New- 
rcourse 
ber  of 
leur,  a 
Gulf 
ion  an- 
ht  back 
ted  the 
contact 
I  -which 


presently  respited  in  the  appearance  of  Cartier  upon  the 
scene;  and  a  basis  of  claim  to  territory  and  possibilities  of 
power  which  might  have  made  Francis  the  greatest  of  Euro- 
pean sovereigns  and  his  "Field  of  the  Cloth  of  Gold"  a  real- 
ity rather  than  a  pageant. 

It  was  not  indeed  the  fault  of  French  courage  and  enter- 
prise if  the  land  of  Francis  I,  and  Henry  IV,  and  Louis  XIV, 
did  not  become  greater  in  the  extent  of  its  realm  than  Spain 
in  even  the  palmiest  days  of  its  power  or  Great  Britain  at  the 
present  time.  In  1534,  Jacques  Cartier,  a  Breton  mariner 
of  some  repute,  a  protege  of  Philippe  de  Brion-Chabot,  who 
was  himself  deep  in  the  King's  favor  and  a  fervent  believer 
in  the  policy  of  extending  the  King's  empire  in  these  un- 
kno^vn  regions,  set  sail  from  St.  Malo  with  two  small  ships 
containing  120  men,  and  with  dreams  of  power  and  perform- 
ance which  we  can  only  estimate  from  the  dauntless  bearing 
of  the  man  in  difficulties  and  dangers  of  an  after  time  and 
from  the  portraits  of  that  rugged,  alert,  keen-eyed  coun- 
tenance which  have  come  down  to  us.  '         v  fv;:  ^^  ;  <' 

cartiek's  discoveries 

Reaching  the  coasts  of  Newfoundland  on  May  10th  he 
passed  on  to  the  Gulf  of  St.  Lawrence  and  along  the  shores 
of  the  future  Prince  Edward  Island  to  the  mainland  of 
New  Brunswick.  The  season  was  opportune  and  his  de- 
lighted men,  as  well  as  himself,  reveled  in  a  region  of 
fertility  and  beauty  which  fairly  enchanted  their  senses. 
Forests  rich  in  the  green  shades  of  early  summer,  meadows 
full  of  rippling  streams  and  wild  fruits  and  colored  blos- 
soms, rivers  crowded  with  salmon  and  other  fish,  and  even 
the  air  itself  teeming  with  wild  pigeons,  greeted  the  sur- 
prised explorers.  Indians,  few  in  number  but  friendly  in 
disposition,  met  and  welcomed  them.  In  July  Cartier  sailed 
away  to  further  ventures  with  a  natural  feeling  of  elation 
in  his  heart  at  what  he  had  already  seen  and  experienced. 
The  entrance  to  Miramichi  Bay  was  passed,  the  sheltered 
beauties  of  an  indentation  which  Cartier  called  the  Bale  des 


20 


TBE  STORY   OF   THE   DOMimOB 


Chaleurs  was  left  behind,  the  Qasp^  shore  was  reached  and 
here,  with  appropriate  ceremony,  Cartier  set  up  a  cross  thirty 
feet  in  height  bearing  upon  it  a  shield  with  the  arms  of 
France.  After  appeasing  the  Indians,  who  had  taken  some 
natural  alarm  at  this  action,  he  foolishly  trapped  two  young 
savages  and  carried  them  away  with  him  as  practical  proofs 
of  h'.s  work  and  discoveries.  Then,  without  further  effort, 
though  at  this  time  in  sight  of  the  shores  of  Anticosti  and  at 
the  threshold  of  the  noble  river  which  he  was  afterward  to 
call  the  St.  Lawrence,  Cartier  turned  his  prows  homeward 
and  once  more  faced  the  wide  waters  of  the  Atlantic.  , 
,                                              .      ..  .:ri^--^^ 

CARTIER  S  SECOND  VOYAQE 

Like  Cabot  and  Columbus  he  had  little  true  conception 
of  the  land  he  had  just  left.  To  him,  and  to  the  imagina- 
tive people  who  received  him  in  triumph  at  St.  Malo,  or 
listened  with  eagerness  to  the  tales  of  adventure  and  dis- 
covery which  grew  in  volume  and  vagueness  as  they  traversed 
the  interior,  it  was  a  fertile  and  lonely  island  and  the  great 
gulf  of  which  he  had  partly  coasted  the  shores  was  a  gate- 
way to  the  eastern  passage  which  had  so  long  been  sought 
to  the  land  of  Cathay — the  region  of  gold  and  romance  and 
dreams.  Popular  enthusiasm  was  aroused.  The  King  was 
stirred  by  new  visions  of  empire  and  tribute.  The  priest 
was  roused  by  the  knowledge  of  new  peoples  to  convert. 
The  trader  was  interested  by  new  possibilities  of  commerce 
and  barter.  As  a  consequence,  Cartier  sailed  again  from  St. 
Malo,  on  May  19,  1535,  with  three  small  ships,  an  aristo- 
cratic company  of  passengers,  and  the  hopes  and  prayers 
of  many. 

Once  again  he  came  in  sight  of  Anticosti,  which  he  called 
Assumption,  and  then  approached  a  bay  which  received  the 
memorable  name  of  St.  Lawrence  from  the  Saint  whose 
feast  day  it  chanced  to  be.  TJp  the  great  river  went  the 
interested  and  charmed  explorers,  touching  the  grand  and 
gloomy  portals  of  the  Saguenay,  passing  the  tree-clad  Isle 
aux  Coudres,  shunning  the  black  shadows  of  Cape  Tour- 


nes 


\ 


1 


ed  and 
J  thirty 
rms  of 
n  some 

•  young 
proofs 

•  effort, 

.  and  at 
ward  to 
meward 

nception 
imagina- 
^alo,  or 
and  dis- 
iraversed 
he  great 
a  gate- 
sought 
ance  and 
iing  was 
he  priest 
convert, 
oinmerce 
from  St. 
m  aristo- 
prayers 

he  called 
leived  the 
nt  whose 
went  the 
rand  and 
^clad  Isle 
ipe  Tour- 


n 


ps 


I 


DISCOVERIES   AND   EXPLORATIONS  W 

mente,  reveling  in  the  wild  vines  and  luxurious  vegetation 
of  rile  d'Orleans.  There  they  received  and  conciliated  the 
countless  savages  who  came  gliding  in  their  swift  and  silent 
canoes  from  all  the  shores  of  the  vast  waterway  to  see  what 
these  strange  white  men,  with  their  stranger  white-winged 
and  monstrous  canoes,  wore  doing  on  the  little  island  which 
for  the  moment  they  had  called  the  Isle  of  Bacchus. 

Leaving  this  place  after  a  somewhat  difficult  but  friendly 
conference  with  Donnacona,  the  chief  of  these  regions,  Car- 
tier's  little  squadron  sailed  further  up  the  river  and  cast 
anchor  at  the  mouth  of  the  St.  Charles  and  in  view  of  the 
Indian  village  of  Stadacona,  as  it  nestled  under  the  beetling 
crags  which  were  soon  to  see  above  them  the  crowning  ram- 
parts of  Quebec.  Hence  the  ever-delighted  explorers  went  on 
up  the  great  river,  and  through  the  Lake  St.  Peter,  until 
they  reached  the  Indian  town  of  Ilochelaga  where  it  nestled 
under  forest-crowned  heights  to  which  Cartier  gave  the  name 
of  Mount  Royal.  The  expedition  had  been  so  far  like  some 
swiftly  passing  dream  of  pleasure.  The  sights  and  scenes 
of  the  noble  river;  the  flushing,  shifting  gorgeousness  of 
summer  and  autumnal  colors  in  the  vast  primeval  forests 
which  lined  its  banks;  the  unbroken  wildness  and  occasional 
sombre  splendor  of  cliff  and  crag  and  promontory;  the  pano- 
rama of  passing  savage  life  and  the  unstinted  hospitality  of 
admiring  and  worshiping  natives  at  Orleans,  at  Stadacona 
and  now  at  Hochelaga — were  enough  to  surely  warrant  the 
adventurous  settlers  in  looking  forward  with  confidence  to 
the  future.  They  returned,  after  a  few  days,  to  Stadacona 
loaded  down  with  gifts  from  the  friendly  natives — boats 
heaped  with  fish  and  ripened  corn — and  with  memories  of 
a  respect  tinged  with  reverence  and  a  confidence  in  their 
honor  and  goodness  which  should  never  have  been  shattered. 

But  they  had  no  real  knowledge  of  what  was  coming  to 
counterbalance  the  period  of  pleasantness  now  rapidly  pass- 
ing away.  A  glimpse  at  Acadie  in  days  of  summer  loveli- 
ness, or  of  the  shores  of  the  St.  Lawrence  garbed  in  autumnal 
beauty,  was  but  ill  preparation  for  the  blasts  of  winter  which, 


THE   STORY   OF   THE  DOMINION 


in  its  most  intense  form  of  cold  and  its  greatest  abundance 
of  ice  and  snow,  was  soon  to  be  on  them.  By  the  time,  in- 
deed, that  they  had  got  their  vessels  into  a  sort  of  sheltered 
inclosure,  and  put  up  some  rough  structures  for  themselves, 
the  change  had  come. 

A   -WINTEE   OF  MTJOH  SUFFEEING 

The  terrors  of  that  winter  can  hardly  be  adequately  de- 
scribed. All  about  the  prospective  settlers  was  a  boundless 
area  of  snow  and  ice.  Their  clothing  was  thin  and  adapted 
only  to  a  mild  aid  pleasant  clime.  Their  fears  were  in 
proportion  to  their  ignorance,  and  their  sufferings,  from  a 
malignant  form  of  scurvy,  were  as  groat  as  from  cold  and 
other  hardships.  Twenty-five  of  the  men  died,  and  by  the 
time  of  early  spring,  with  its  first  welcome  signs  of  warmth 
and  of  the  passing  away  of  that  overwhelming  nightmare 
of  surrounding  whiteness,  the  balance  of  the  little  party  were 
tottering  in  feebleness  on  the  brink  of  the  grave.  Fortunately, 
th**  Indians  had  been  kind,  though  suffering  somewhat  them- 
selves, and  in  spite  of  their  natural  hardiness,  from  the  se- 
verity of  the  winter.  They  had  prescribed  a  sample  mixture 
for  the  sick  which  proved  efficacious,  and,  indeed,  probably 
saved  the  lives  of  the  remaining  white  men. 

As  soon  as  the  loosening  ice  on  the  river  permitted,  Car- 
tier  turned  two  of  his  ships  homeward,  leaving  one  behind, 
to  be  found,  307  years  afterward  (1843),  sunk  in  the  bed 
of  the  St.  Charles.  Before  going  he  seized  Donnacona  and 
nine  of  his  chiefs,  as  visible  trophies  for  the  eye  of  France, 
and  as  a  lasting,  though  unintended,  monument  to  his  own 
folly  and  ingratitude.  They  died  without  seeing  again  their 
native  land,  and,  in  dying,  left  a  legacy  of  future  bitterness 
and  pain  to  French  settlers  and  the  white  man  generally, 
which  it  was  well  for  Cartier  he  could  not  anticipate. 

Again,  in  1541,  the  intrepid  explorer,  with  the  patronage 
and  co-operation  of  the  Sieur  de  Roberval,  a  wealthy  noble- 
man of  Picardy,  started  for  this  scene  of  mingled  pleasures 
and  privations.     Francis  I  had,  in  the  meantime,  recovered 


DISCOVERIES    AND    EXPLORATIONS 


23 


Lndaiic<3 
ime,  in- 
leltered 
[iiselves, 


itely  de- 
loundleaa 

adapted 
were  in 
^  from  a 
cold  and 
d  by  the 
i  warmth 
Lightmare 
arty  were 
rtunately, 
Ihat  them- 
m  the  se- 
B  mixture 

probably 

ted,  Car- 
le behind, 
the  bed 
acona  and 
3f  France, 
,0  his  own 
gain  their 
bitterness 
generally, 

cipate. 
patronage 

Ithy  noble- 
1  pleasures 
recovered 


a  little  from  years  of  conflict  with  his  powerful  rival  Charles 
V  of  Spain  and  of  the  Holy  Roman  Empire,  and  had  made 
De  Eoberval  Viceroy  of  New  France,  with  Cartier  as  Cap- 
tain-General. The  latter  arrived  at  Stadacona  in  August  and 
commenced  a  settlement  a  few  miles  higher  up  the  river, 
which  he  called  Charlesbourg ;  and  there  he  began  to  culti- 
vate the  soil  and  build  a  fort.  The  natives  naturally  proved 
unfriendly  when  they  found  that  their  chiefs  had  not  re- 
turned with  the  white  men,  and  the  winter  which  ensued 
was  full  of  gloom  and  disheartening  privation.  A  couple 
of  vessels  had  been  sent  back  to  France  for  aid  before  the 
cold  season  began,  but,  with  the  first  flush  of  springtime  and 
without  waiting  their  return,  Cartier  pulled  up  his  stakes  and 
started  for  home.  Off  the  coast  of  Newfoundland  he  met  De 
Roberval,  himself,  with  three  ships,  plenty  of  provisions,  and 
200  new  colonists  of  both  sexes,  and  wae  commanded  to  re- 
turn. But  Cartier  seems  to  have  lost  both  head  and  heart 
so  far  as  tliis  enterprise  was  concerned  and  to  have  longed 
for  a  sight  once  more  of  the  fair  shores  of  sunny  France. 
Whatever  the  reason,  he  disobeyed  the  orders  of  his  superior 
and  escaped  during  the  night  with  his  vessels  and  men. 

De  Roberval  went  on  to  his  destination,  put  up  a  large 
building  for  the  mixed  purpose  of  accommodation  and  de- 
fence and  prepared  to  face  a  winter  of  whose  severity  he  only 
knew  by  vague  hearsay.  The  privations  of  the  season  were 
enhanced  by  the  unfriendliness  of  the  natives  as  well  as  by 
the  character  of  the  convicts  who  constituted  a  large  por- 
tion of  his  following.  Sixty  men  perished  during  these  weary 
months  from  cold,  or  hunger,  or  scurvy,  while  the  cord  and 
whip  and  prison  found  a  j)lace  in  connection  with  many 
others  of  the  insubordinate,  would-be  colonists.  In  the  spring 
De  Roberval,  who  was  a  brave  and  venturesome  leader,  at- 
tempted to  explore  tlie  unknown  interior,  but  without  suc- 
cess and  with  the  loss  of  some  eight  men  by  drowning.  He 
clung  to  his  settlement,  however,  during  another  winter  of 
hardships  and  tlien  at  last  fled  back  to  France.  Five  years 
later,  when  his  memories  of  scurvy  and  starvation,  of  snow 


24 


THE   STORY    OF   THE  DOMINION 


and  ice,  of  hand-to-mouth  living  upon  fish  and  roots,  had  be- 
come somewhat  dimmed,  or  perhaps  forgotten  in  a  sudden 
rush  of  summer  recollections  and  memories  of  the  wild  free 
life  of  the  primeval  forest  and  rolling  rivers  of  the  new  world, 
De  Roberval  started  again  for  the  scene  which  seems  to  have 
had  such  intense  fascination  for  those  who  once  breathed  its 
vastness  of  air  and  space. 

The  result  of  that  expedition  of  1549  is  one  of  the  mys- 
teries of  history,  and,  whether  the  tradition  of  its  sailing  up 
the  dark  waters  of  the  Saguenay  and  being  lost  while  search- 
ing for  some  land  of  gold  and  jewels  and  alleged  enchant- 
ment is  true,  or  not,  will  never  be  really  known.  It  seems 
probable,  however,  that  the  gallant  nobleman  and  his  fol- 
lowers were  either  swallowed  up  in  a  storm  at  sea,  or  lost 
as  the  first  European  victims  of  an  Indian  fear  which  was 
soon  to  change  into  a  bitter  hatred.  Cartier  lived  some  years 
longer  to  enjoy  the  quiet  of  home  life  and  the  pleasures  of  a 
patent  of  nobility  which  had  come  to  the  brave  seaman  of  St. 
Malo  as  a  reward  for  the  efforts  of  his  stirring  and  vigorous 


career. 


THE  FRENCH  AND  THE  ENGLISH 


During  the  next  fifty  years  these  adventurous  ffforts  to 
found  a  New  France  beyond  the  seas  were  forgotten  in  the 
storms  of  internal  dissension  and  war  which  came  to  old 
France.  England,  which  in  the  period  just  considered  had 
been  devoting  the  energies  of  her  pictures<jue  buccaneers  and 
always  gallant  seamen  to  the  gold-ships  of  Spain  and  the 
settlements  on  South  American  shores,  or  in  the  West  Indies, 
made  by  the  same  great  Power,  now  turned  her  attention  to 
the  north.  Sir  Martin  Frobisher  set  foot  on  the  coasts  of 
Labrador  in  1576 ;  Sir  Francis  Drake  in  the  following  year 
sighted  the  snowy  mountain-tops  of  British  Columbia;  Sir 
Humphry  Gilbert,  in  1583,  led  an  expedition  of  well-equipped 
and  gallant  colonists  to  the  shores  of  Newfoundland  and  took 
possession  of  the  island,  whose  harbors  were  thronged  by  cod- 
fishing  fleets  from  France,  Spain,  Portugal,  and  England, 


DISCOVERIES   AND   EXPLORATIONS 


25 


ts,  had  be- 
a  sudden 
wild  free 
lew  world, 
ms  to  have 
reathed  its 

f  the  mys- 
sailing  up 
aile  search- 
id  enchant- 
It  seems 
nd  his  fol- 
aea,  or  lost 
which  was 
some  years 
jasures  of  a 
iman  of  St. 
ad  vigorous 


s  ffforts  to 
)tten  in  the 
ame  to  old 
sidered  had 
cancers  and 
in  and  the 
^est  Indies, 
attention  to 
coasts  of 
owing  year 
ambia;  Sir 
sll-equipped 
,d  and  took 
■ged  by  cod- 
d  England, 


in  the  name  of  Queen  Elizabeth.  He  established  English 
authority,  enacted  various  laws,  and  proclaimed,  under  Royal 
charter,  his  possession  of  the  soil  for  600  miles  in  every  direc- 
tion from  St.  John's — a  region  which  included  New  Bruns- 
wick, Nova  Scotia,  Labrador,  and  part  of  Quebec,  as  they  are 
in  modern  days.  Considerable  3xploring  work  was  done  by 
the  gallant  Admiral,  whose  character  of  mingled  truth  and 
gentleness  and  dauntless  courage  fills  such  an  attractive  page 
in  history.  It  was  beautifully  exemplified  as  he  sat  in  the 
stem  of  his  frail  and  foundering  vessel,  during  the  return 
voyage  to  England  in  the  stormy  winter  season,  and  sank  to 
his  final  rest  with  the  words  of  consolation  to  his  crew :  "Cheer 
up,  lads ;  we  are  as  near  to  Heaven  at  sea  as  on  land." 

Once  more,  as  the  century  drew  to  its  close,  French  en- 
terprise began  to  reassert  itself  and  the  mantle  of  the  ill-fated 
De  Roberval  was  taken  up  by  a  nobleman  of  Brittany,  the 
Marquis  do  la  Roche.  In  1598  he  obtained  appointment  from 
the  King  as  Viceroy  of  New  France  and  prepared  an  expedi- 
tion of  one  ship,  which  he  filled  with  a  crew  gathered  from 
the  common  prisons.  It  was  an  ill  beginning  with  a  worse 
ending.  He  reached,  in  summer  season,  the  shifting  sands 
of  Sable  Island,  and  found  there  plenty  of  good  water  and 
herds  of  wild  cattle,  bred  from  those  left  by  de  Lery's  settle- 
ment of  eighty  years  before.  It  seemed  an  excellent  place  to 
leave  his  convict  colonists  at  while  he  went  on  a  further  voy- 
age of  exploration.  He  landed  them  for  a  period,  which  he 
promised  should  be  brief,  and  started  for  the  mainland,  only 
to  be  swept  out  to  sea  by  a  sudden  storm  and  back  to  France. 
There  he  was  seized  by  a  powerful  rival  and  consigned  to 
prison.  When  at  last  he  got  word  to  King  Henry  and  was 
allowed  to  take  a  ship  out  to  the  rescue  of  his  would-be  settlers, 
it  was  to  find  himself  face  to  face  with  one  of  the  dark  trag- 
edies of  history,  and  to  discover  only  a  pitiful  remnant  of 
shaggy,  despairing  creatures,  who  looked  more  like  brutes 
than  men.  .truAtfrn  ■■i-  i-y.^'.^i:')  •e^sv  r  ■-! 

They  had,  at  first,  been  delighted  with  their  liberty,  with 
the  balmy  freshness  of  the  summer  air,  with  the  brief  abun- 


DOMINION- 


4 


THE   STORY   OF   THE   DOMINION 


,  i 

■r;r 


;  I, 


i  ■! 


dance  of  fresh  meat  and  the  wild  berries  clustering  to  the  lip. 
But  the  cattle  began  to  disappear,  time  commenced  to  hang 
heavy  on  their  hands,  no  returning  ship  was  visible,  the  heat 
was  occasionally  intense,  and  was  suddenly  succeeded  by  the 
first  storms  of  autumn  sweeping  o\er  the  low  and  unpro- 
tected surface  of  the  level,  treeless  island.  Then  came  the 
sense  of  desertion,  the  feeling  of  unutterable  despair,  the 
loneliness  of  intense  isolation,  the  cruel,  uncontrolled  passion 
of  men  without  moral  or  religious  scruple.  They  fought  and 
tried  to  kill  each  other,  and  then  there  came  sweeping  down, 
and  around  them,  the  wintry  storms  of  the  wildest  and  most 
exposed  spot  on  the  whole  Atlantic  Coast.  How  any  of  them 
ever  survived  that  winter  is  a  marvel — that  some  did  live 
through  it  is  a  fact.  Broken  in  health  and  heart  and  for- 
tune, De  la  Roche  returned  to  France  with  the  miserable 
remnant  of  his  expedition,  and  died  soon  afterward. 

Meanwhile  an  effort  had  been  made  by  a  naval  officer  of 
Rouen,  named  Chauvin,  and  a  trader  of  St  Malo,  called 
Pontgrave,  to  establish  a  colony  on  the  shores  of  the  P^.  Law- 
rence for  purposes  of  fur-trading.  They  procured  from  the 
King  certain  rights  of  monopoly,  and  the  beginning  was  made 
of  what  eventually  became  a  great  business.  The  small  set- 
tlement started  for  this  purpose  at  Tadoussac,  near  the  junc- 
tion of  the  Saguenay  and  the  St.  Lawrence,  was  not,  however, 
as  successful  in  a  colonizing  sense.  Sixteen  men  were  left  to 
hold  the  port  through  the  winter  of  1599,  and,  in  the  very 
season  which  proved  so  fatal  to  the  miserable  refugees  on 
Sable  Island,  the  ill-equipped  and  ignorant  colonists  on  the 
mainland  were  dying  of  cold  and  starvation.  When  the  spring 
traders  came  again  they  found  their  little  colony  broken  up, 
and  only  two  or  three  survivors  living  among  the  Indians. 
The  fur-trade  was  continued,  but  no  further  effort  at  coloniza- 
tion was  made  at  this  time. 

Elsewhere,  and  amid  very  different  surroundings,  the  con- 
tinent was  being  claimed  or  explored.  Balboa  had  discov- 
ered the  Pacific  Ocean  and  dispelled  the  dream  of  America 
being  a  part  of  Asia.     Spain,  at  the  hands  of  Cortez  and  Pi- 


:^. .;  \ 


DISCOVERIES   AND   EXPLORATIONS 


g  to  the  lip. 
Jed  to  hang 
>le,  the  heat 
Jded  by  the 
and  unpro- 
1  came  the 
espair,   the 
led  passion 
fought  and 
ping  down, 
t  and  most 
ly  of  them 
ie  did  live 
t  and  for- 
miserable 
'd.  Bity-. 

I  oflScer  of 
ilo,  called 
3  Pt  Law- 

from  the 
was  made 
small  set- 

the  junc- 
,  however, 
sre  left  to 

the  very 
fugees  on 
its  on  tlie 
;he  spring 
foken  up, 

Indians. 

coloniza- 


27 


i.»      II    .   I  <  u     I  Wl . 


,  the  con- 
d  discov- 
America 
:  and  Pi- 


26 


THE  STORY   OF   THE   DOMINION 


DISCOVERIES   AND   EXPLORATIONS 


27 


zarro  and  Ponce  de  Leon,  had  conquered  or  claimed  the  em- 
pires of  Mexico  and  Peru  and  the  wilder  glades  of  Florida. 
England  had  established  a  fugitive  settlement  or  two  in  Vir- 
ginia, and  Port  Boyal  was  soon  to  be  founded  and  Acadie  be- 
come a  historic  name  on  the  Atlantic  Coast  of  the  present 
Dominion. 

THE  CAREER  OF  OHAMPLAIN 

The  pivotal  point  in  the  establishment  of  Canada,  or  New 
France,  was,  however,  the  career  of  Champlain.  This  greatr 
est  character  in  the  early  period  of  its  history  was  a  gentle- 
man by  birth  and  a  native  of  Bruage,  on  the  Biscayan  coast, 
where  he  was  born  in  1567.  He  became  a  Captain  of  the 
Royal  Marines  in  later  years  and  was  a  soldier  in  the  wars  of 
the  League,  under  Henry  of  Navarre.  With  a  combined  expe- 
rience of  sea  and  shore,  the  inspiration  of  Henry's  patriotic 
character,  the  possession  of  personal  qualities  of  courage, 
chivalry,  and  religious  zeal,  Champlain  was  an  ideal  pioneer 
leader.  In  him  the  zeal  of  the  missionary  is  said  to  have 
tempered  the  fire  of  patriotism,  and  there  is  no  question  of  a 
devotion  to  duty  which  scorned  privation  and  disappointment, 
and  a  courage  which  endured  all  things  for  the  achievement  of 
a  far-away  end.  When  internal  peace  came  to  France,  by  the 
accession  of  Henry  IV,  Champlain  had  soon  tired  of  the  life 
of  Courts  and  had  journeyed  to  the  West  Indies  and  Mexico. 
It  was,  therefore,  very  natural  when  the  King  turned  his 
attention  and  ambition  to  the  new  world,  and  Aymar  de 
Chastes,  Governor  of  Dieppe,  was  given  permission  to  resume 
the  work  of  colonization,  that  he  should  see  in  Champlain  the 
man  for  the  work.  It  was  readily  taken  up  by  him,  and,  in 
1603,  accompanied  by  Pontgrave  of  fur-trade  fame,  and  com- 
manding two  tiny  vessels  of  twelve  and  fifteen  txDns  burden, 
he  crossed  the  stormy  seas,  sailed  up  the  solitary  St.  Law- 
rence, passed  the  deserted  outpost  of  Tadoussac,  the  now  va- 
cant site  of  the  Indian  village  at  Stadacona,  the  ruined  build- 
ings of  Cartier  at  Cape  Rouge,  and  came  in  time  to  the  tenant- 
less  site  of  the  once  beautiful  and  flourishing  Hochelaga. 


98 


THE   STORY    OF   THE   DOMINION 


1 


^1 

I; 


I 


ii 


Neitlier  the  mighty  rock  of  Quebec,  nor  the  lofty  sides  of 
Mount  Royal,  now  sheltered  the  wigwams  and  huts  of  the  one- 
time friendly  natives.  Nothing  was  done  by  the  expedition, 
excepting  the  capture  of  a  cargo  of  furs,  and  on  their  return 
the  two  leaders  found,  to  tlieir  serious  loss,  that  the  generous 
De  Chastes  was  dead  and  that  Henry's  mind  was  filled  for  the 
moment  with  other  thoughts. 

For  a  year  after  this,  Champlain  remained  in  France,  and 
then  accompanied  De  Monts  and  Poutrincourt  upon  their 
colonizing  venture  in  Acadie,  the  land  of  winter  ice  and  snow 
and  summer  loveliness — changing  conditions  which  it  seemed 
im^wssible  for  the  early  French  settlers  to  fully  grasp  in  all 
their  significance  of  needed  preparation  and  adaptation.  Then 
followed  the  ups  and  downs  of  several  years,  the  foundation  of 
Port  Eojiil  and  its  capture  by  the  English,  who,  meanwhile, 
had  been  making  firm  their  ground  in  Virginia,  as  they  did 
a  little  later  in  Newfoundland  and  endeavored  to  do  on  the 
shores  of  Hudson's  Bay.  The  unfortunate  navigator  who 
gave  his  name  to  the  great  inland  sea  lost  his  life  in  its  ex- 
ploration, though  he  left  behind  an  English  claim  to  sov- 
ereignty of  its  shores  based  upon  his  service  under  an  En- 
glish King.  Before  this  occurred  Champlain  had  tired  of  the 
plots  and  complications  of  Acadian  settlement,  and,  under  the 
patronage  of  Sieur  de  Monts,  and  accompanied  by  Pontgrave, 
had  turned  his  attention  once  more  to  the  St.  Lawrence  and  to 
what  was  to  be  the  great  work  of  his  life. 

In  1608,  therefore,  the  determined  colonizer  and  the  vig- 
orous trader  started  together  up  the  great  and  silent  river 
and  reached  again  the  spot  where  Stadacona  had  once  stood. 
Upon  the  deserted  site,  and  under  the  shelter  of  the  beetling 
rock  upon  which  his  future  fortress  was  to  be  established, 
Champlain  laid  the  foundations  of  Quebec.  It  was  but  a 
village,  square  in  shape,  with  wooden  buildings,  and  sur- 
rounded by  a  wooden  wall  and  ditch,  fortified  by  bastions 
and  guns.  But  it  was  enough  for  the  moment  and  to  the 
man  who  had  the  instinct  of  empire  and  government  in  his 
breast.     Before  very  long  he  detected  and  suppressed  with 


DISCOVERIES   AND   EXPLORATIONS 


severe  puniflhmenta  a  plot  on  the  part  of  the  fur-traders  to 
do  away  with  his  stern  but  wholesome  rule,  and  to  make 
trade  the  entire  aim,  instead  of  the  subsidiary  condition,  of 
the  settlement  The  chief  conspirator  was  promptly  hanged, 
and  others  were  sent  to  France  in  chains,  or  condemned  to 
the  galleys. 

AN    EVENT    OF    LASTING    CONSEQUENCES 

■a 

During  the  following  year  occurred  an  event  which  had 
lasting  consequences,  and  was  the  nominal  cause  of  the  pro- 
longed and  bloody  conflict  between  Iroquois  and  French. 
Its  importance  has  probably  been  exaggerated,  as  the  feud 
was  inevitable  in  any  case.  The  Iroquois  would  have  brooked 
no  rival  to  their  savage  empire  had  Champlain  never  given 
any  assistance  to  the  Hurons,  whom  they  had  long  intended 
to  crush,  and  did  eventually  crush.  Moreover,  they  were 
quick  as  the  wolves,  which  roamed  the  wilderness  in  count- 
less numbers,  to  detect  the  presence  of  danger,  and,  no  doubt, 
had  already  heard  traditions  and  plentiful  rumors  of  the 
conduct  of  Cartier  and  other  explorers  in  deceiving  and 
seizing  friendly  natives  —  perhaps  members  of  wandering 
bands  with  which  they  may  have  been  on  friendly  terras. 
Be  that  as  it  may,  however,  Champlain  did  certainly  pre- 
cipitate the  issue  when,  in  the  early  summer  of  1609,  he 
espoused  the  cause  of  the  Ottawa  Algonquins,  as  friends  and 
allies  of  the  Hurons,  and  started  from  Quebec  with  eleven 
Frenchmen  and  a  flotilla  of  canoes  filled  with  Indians  to 
attack  the  fiercest  and  ablest  of  all  the  Indian  tribes  or 
nations.  Three-fourths  of  the  native  followers  early  de- 
serted the  expedition  as  the  result  of  a  quarrel,  and  he  sent 
back  all  but  two  of  his  own  men  to  Quebec. 

Then,  with  only  sixty  Indians  in  his  train,  but  vnth  a 
dauntless  bearing  and  determination  which  carried  all  be- 
fore him,  the  "man  with  the  iron  breast"  proceeded  upon  his 
journey  into  the  vast,  unknown  interior.  Over  rapids  and 
foaming  falls,  upon  varied  rivers  and  great  lakes,  through 
dense  forests  and  a  primeval  wilderness,  the  intrepid  soldier 


80 


THE   STORY   OF    THE    DOMINION 


I  :! 


!.i 


[!-! 


m 


fought  his  way.  He  discovered  the  Lake  Chainplain  of  a 
later  day,  and  upon  its  shores  met  tlie  Iroquois  in  hattle. 
It  was  a  picturesque  scene.  Here,  amid  forests  centuries 
old,  the  military  civilization  of  Europe  stood  for  the  first 
time  face  to  face  with  the  not  ignoble  savagery  of  America. 
Champlain,  with  his  steel  breastplate  and  ])lumed  casque, 
his  matchlock  in  hand,  his  sword  by  his  side,  and  his  little 
group  of  followers  behind  him,  quietly  awaited  the  attack 
of  two  hundred  of  the  fiercest,  tallest,  and  strongest  savages 
of  the  now  world !  The  war-whoop  of  the  Indians  was  met 
by  a  discharge  from  the  French  loader's  matchlock,  which 
killed  or  wounded  three  of  the  Iroquois  braves.  This  use 
of  lightning  to  destroy  his  enemies  with  was  too  much  for 
the  superstition  of  the  natives,  and  they  fled  precipitately. 
Many  were  killed  and  some  captured,  and  Champlain,  for 
the  first  time,  beheld  the  tortures  of  which  he  had  probably 
heard  much,  and  which  the  Algonquins  at  once  proceeded  to 
inflict  upon  the  prisoners. 

During  the  succeeding  year  Champlain  took  another 
journey  and  reached  the  mouth  of  the  Richelieu,  where  he 
once  more  fought  and  overcame  a  body  of  Iroquois  who  had, 
in  this  cas' ,  placed  themselves  inside  a  barricade  which  had 
to  be  stormed  and  captured.  In  1613,  the  adventurous  pio- 
neer, with  only  five  companions  and  two  small  canoes,  went 
on  a  long  journey  of  exploration.  He  passed  with  difficulty 
around  the  Longue  Sault  and  Carillon  Rapids,  paddled  up 
the  Ottawa  to  the  Rideau  Falls  and  the  foaming  cataract  of 
the  Chaudiere,  and  reached  Allumette  Island.  There  he 
rested  for  a  while  before  turning  back,  while  all  around  him 
was  the  solitude  of  vast  wilds  unbroken  by  any  sounds  save 
those  of  nature.  Champlain  imagined  much  and  hoped 
much,  but  not  even  he,  with  all  his  visionary  expectations 
of  finding  a  path  to  the  silks  and  spices  of  the  Far  East, 
could  have  dreamed  of  this  very  region  one  day  becoming 
the  home  of  splendid  legislative  halls  and  the  seat  of  gov- 
ernment in  a  great  British  country.  Two  years  later  he 
organized  another  expedition  against  the  Iroquois,  and  this 


DISCOVERIES    AND    EXPLORATIONS 


81 


of  a          1 

■ 

Dattle.           ^1 

turies 

■ 

Q  first 

1 

lerica. 

1 

asque, 

1 

}  little 

1 

attack 

1 

avages 

1 

as  met 

1 

which 

'-  >.' 

lis  use 

ich  for 
itately.     -     ! 

i 

in,  for 

I'obably 

eded  to 

tWi 

I 

another 

lere  he 

ho  had, 

ich  had 

)U8  pio- 

(8,  went 

ifficulty 

died  up 

iract  of        , 

here  he 

md  him 

ids  save 

I  hoped 

ctations 

ir  East, 

Bcoming 

of  gov-     ' 

later  he 

md  this 

I 

time  pushed  further  up  the  Ottawa  until  he  reached  the 
Mattawa,  crossed  by  a  short  portage  into  J^ake  Nipiasing, 
and  thence  descended  the  French  River  until  the  vast  expanse 
of  Lake  Huron  was  reached.  Upon  the  shores  of  Georgian 
Bay,  its  great  inlet,  he  collected  an  Indian  force  from 
among  the  palisaded  villages  of  the  Ilurons  which  then 
crowded  the  rolling  and  fertile  fields  of  the  future  County 
of  Siracoe.  ' 

EXPEDITIONS    AGAINST    THE   IROQUOIS  ? 

In  September  he  led  a  large  war  party  by  the  channel  of 
the  Trent  to  Lake  Ontario,  crossed  it  at  a  narow  point  and 
then,  leaving  their  canoes,  his  Indians  stole  like  shadows 
through  the  brilliant  autumnal  woods  till  they  came  to  a 
well-guarded  and  palisaded  town  of  the  Onondagas.  A  sud- 
den and  wild  attack  was  repulsed,  the  lessons  in  skil  i  war- 
fare which  Champlain  had  tried  to  give  his  reckless  ives 
were  unobserved,  and  a  second  onslaught  met  with  tl  me 
result.  He  himself  was  wounded,  his  prestige  was  largely 
gone,  and  the  Hurons  became  thoroughly  disheartened.  Re- 
inforcements were  awaited,  but  did  not  come,  and,  five  days 
later,  they  made  haste  homeward,  carrying  with  them  a 
leader  who  was  suffering  from  a  sore  heart  as  well  as  a 
wounded  body.  Promises  to  take  him  back  to  Quebec  were 
broken,  and  he  had  to  winter  among  the  tribes.  With  him, 
however,  was  the  Recollet  priest,  Le  Caron,  and  Champlain 
occupied  his  time  by  helping  in  the  foundation  of  a  mission, 
in  visiting  allied  tribes,  and  in  patching  up  a  dispute  be- 
tween the  Algonquins  and  the  Huroas.  In  the  spring  he 
returned  to  Quebec,  and  was  wilcomed  by  those  who  had 
given  up  all  hope  of  ever  seeing  him  again*     r,' ■;    *v     i    . 

This  was  his  last  distant  expedition  of  a  warlike  or  ex- 
ploring character.  In  1620,  the  Iroquois  came  swarming 
down  upon  the  French  fortress  at  Quebec  and  around  the 
stone  convent  of  the  Recollets  on  the  St.  Charles,  but  were 
unable  to  do  more  than  harry  the  country  and  capture  some 
Hurons  who,  in  one  case,  were  tortured  to  death  before 


I! 


82 


THE  STORY   OF  THE   DOMINION 


the  eyes  of  the  horrified  priests  of  the  St.  Charles.  A  little 
later,  Champlain  had  to  suppress  a  plot  for  the  destruction 
of  Quebec  among  an  Algonquin  tribe — the  Montagnais — 
whom  he  had  greatly  befriended  and  helped,  and  whose 
treachery  cut  him  to  the  quick.  But,  although  no  more  ac- 
ti  e  campaigns  were  undertaken  by  him,  he  had  to  face  the 
continued  and  sleepless  hatred  of  the  Iroquois,  and  no  man 
knew  from  day  to  day  and  year  to  year  at  what  moment 
the  war-whoop  of  the  savage  might  not  be  heard  from  the 
four  quarters  of  the  horizon.  Some  good  came  out  of  the 
evil  which  the  brave  Frenchman  had  created  by  increasing 
and  deepening  the  hostility  of  the  Iroquois.  It  made  the 
Hurons  more  amenable  to  French  and  missionary  influence, 
and  this  Champlain  would  have  considered  the  greatest  of 
all  good  ends. 

DISCOVERY    OF    THE    GEEAT    LAKES 

Champlain,  during  this  part  of  his  career,  had  discov- 
ered Lake  Champlain  and  Lake  Nipissing,  Lake  Huron  and 
Lake  Ontario,  and  had  explored  the  great  Ottawa  and  many 
a  lesser  stream.  He  had  proven  the  pioneer  of  French  en- 
ergy in  a  vast  region  to  which  he  laid  claim  in  the  name 
of  his  King.  This  was  much  for  one  man  to  do,  but  it  was 
by  no  means  all  that  he  achieved.  From  161ii  to  1629,  from 
1633  to  his  death  two  years  later,  he  governed  strongly  and 
well  the  New  France  which  he  fondly  hoped  was  going  to 
be  a  great  empire  for  his  country  and  his  race.  During 
thece  years  his  difficulties  were  immense.  Not  only  was 
there  trouble  with  the  Indians  and  with  refractory  settlers, 
but  there  was  the  reckless  criminality  of  the  fur-traders,  who 
corrupted  the  savages  with  brandy  and  too  often  taught 
them  other  phases  of  immorality  which  they  had  never 
known.  Over  and  over  again  the  lordship,  or  viceroyalty, 
of  New  France  changed  hards.  There  was  neither  continu- 
ity of  system  nor  government.  The  Associated  Merchants 
of  St.  Malo  and  Rouen  held  power  for  a  time  under  the 
nominal  rule  of  the  Prince  de  Conde  and  strove  in  vain  to 


DISCOVERIES   AND    EXPLORATIONS 


88 


.  little 
uction 
nais — 

whose 
ore  ac- 
ice  the 
10  man 
aoment 
om  the 

of  the 
ireasing 
ade  the 
fluence, 
atest  of 


discov- 
ron  and 
id  many 
Bnch  en- 
le  name 
t  it  was 
19,  from 
gly  and 
going  to 
During 
>nly  was 
settlers, 
ers,  who 
.  taught 
d   never 
royalty, 
continu- 
lerchants 
nder  the 
vain  to 


ie 


a 


oust  Champlain  from  his  position.  Then  two  Huguenot 
gentlemen  —  brothers  named  de  Caen  —  obtained  the  fur- 
trading  monopoly,  and  religious  disputes  began  to  trouble  a 
Colony  shadowed  at  that  very  moment  by  the  scalping-knife 
of  the  Iroquois.  To  them  succeeded  the  Due  de  Ventadour, 
whose  object  was  neither  trade  nor  settlement,  but  the  salva- 
tion of  souls.  Under  his  patronage  Jesuit  priests  began  to 
pour  into  the  country,  and  to  follow  the  savages  to  their  lairs 
in  every  part  of  a  vast  aiid  unknown  region. 
I  Another  change  came  when  Richelieu  succeeded  to  power 
in  France.  He  strengthened  Champlain's  hands  for  the  mo- 
ment, founded  in  1628  the  Company  of  the  Hundred  Asso- 
ciates, with  Champlain  as  a  member,  and  with  a  charter  of 
trade  and  power  extending  over  New  France,  Acadie,  New- 
foundland, and  Florida;  proclaimed  the  Colony  an  abso- 
lutely Catholic  possession,  and  forbade  the  settlement  of  a 
Protestant  within  its  bounds;  pledged  the  Company  to  send 
out  6,000  settlers  within  fifteen  years ;  and  gave  to  the  Com- 
pany, as  a  personal  gift  from  the  King,  two  well-armed  bat- 
tleships. But  all  this  was  of  little  avail  for  some  years. 
War  was  being  waged  with  England,  supplies  had  been  cut 
off.  the  littlp  Colony  was  starving  or  living  upon  roots,  and, 
in  1629,  Admiral  Kirke  sailed  up  the  St.  Lawrence  and  cap- 
tured the  place.  By  the  Treaty  of  St.  Germain-en-Laye,  in 
1632,  New  France  and  Acadie  were  given  iip  again  by  Eng- 
land, Champlain  was  restored  to  his  post,  ihe  settlement 
became  a  devout  centre  for  the  conversion  of  savages,  law- 
lessness was  suppressed,  and  trading  interests  were  made 
subservient  to  administrative  necessities.  Everything  prom- 
ised a  prolonged  period  of  peace  and  progress. 

On  Christmas  Day,  1635,  however,  the  only  man  who 
could  have  achieved  such  conditions  in  a  permanent  sense 
died  suddenly,  with  a  horizon  of  hoped-for  rest  and  happi- 
ness in  full  view.  During  five  years  of  the  earlier  period 
his  brave  wife  had  lived  with  him,  and  then  he  had  insisted 
upon  taking  her  back  to  France.  But  for  years  he  had  been 
without  her,  and  was  now  looking  forward  to  a  settled  home 


84 


THE  STORY  OF   TEE  DOMINION 


and  a  reasonably  quiet  life  in  this  Colony  which  he  had 
founded  and  guarded  and  nursed  as  a  mother  might  her  only 
child.  He  had  fought  the  Iroqaois,  fought  the  convict  spirit 
of  early  settlers,  fought  the  intrigues  of  court  and  religious 
interests,  fought  the  fur-traders'  greed  and  cruelty^  fought 
the  English  invader  and  the  still  worse  enemies  of  cold  and 
hunger.  He  had  conquered  all,  but  was  now,  at  last,  him- 
self beaten  by  death.  His  career  presents  a  most  striking 
picture,  and  he  well  deserves  his  place  as  a  hero,  not  only 
of  French  Canada,  but  of  all  Canada,  whether  French  or 
English. 


LA   SALLE   AND   THE   INTERIOR 


."\''«jkH 


During  these  later  years  others  besides  Cham  plain  had 
been  traversing  the  wilds  and  noting  the  location  of  vast, 
unknown  bodies  of  water.  Jesuit  priests  and  French  trap- 
pers and  hunters  passed  up  the  rivers  and  reached  th'j  shores 
of  countless  lakes — south  and  east  and  west  from  the  St. 
Lawrence.  The  one  class  w.as  seeking  souls  and  the  other 
furs — but  they  all  traversed  new  regions  and  encountered 
the  forces  of  nature  in  some  of  its  greatest  environments. 
Lake  Michigan  was  sighted  by  Jean  Nicolet  in  1634,  Lake 
Erie  by  Fathers  Chamonot  and  Brebeuf  in  1640,  Lake  Su- 
perior by  some  now  forgotten  Coureurs  de  hois  in  1659. 
Father  Marquette  and  a  fur-trader  named  Jolliete  saw  the 
upper  waters  of  the  Mississippi  for  the  first  time  in  1673 
and  paddled  down  past  the  mouths  of  the  Illinois,  the  Mis- 
souri, and  the  Ohio.  Meantime,  Nicolas  Perrot,  a  daring 
adventurer  whose  career  is  one  long  series  of  thrilling  inci- 
dents, was  the  first  white  man  to  stand  upon  the  site  of 
Chicago,  as,  in  1671,  Father  Albanal  was  the  first  European 
to  appear  upon  the  shores  of  the  stormy  waters  in  which 
Hudson  had  perished  nearly  a  century  before.  Seven  years 
from  this  last  date  Father  Hennepin,  looking  out  from  the 
dense  woods  he  had  been  traversing  amid  the  sullen  roar  of 
some  great  wonder  of  nature,  beheld  the  Falls  of  Niagara 
in  all  their  primeval  splendor  and  solitude. 


•I 
I 


M 

.'•I 

a 

■% 

"M 

:f 

le  bad 

1 

sr  only 

.  spirit 

ligious 

fought 

»ld  and 

t,  him- 

triking 

ot  only 

3nch  or 

DISCOVERIES   AND   EXPLORATIONS 


85 


lin  had 
of  vast, 
ch  trap- 
/j  shores 
the  St. 
le  other 
mntered 
mments. 
4,  Lake 
ake  Su- 
n  1659. 
saw  the 
m  1673 
he  Mis- 
daring 
ing  inci- 
site  of 
uropean 
n  which 
en  years 
"rom  the 
roar  of 
Niagara 


si  Much,  therefore,  was  being  done  in  the  later  days  of  Cham- 
plain,  and  more  was  done  in  the  fifty  years  which  followed, 
to  unroll  the  map  of  North  America.  Still,  it  was  all  so 
vast  and  vague,  the  knowledge  so  varied  and  detached,  that 
there  was  little  real  conception  of  the  connected  position  of 
the  five  Great  Lakes,  with  their  innumerable  satellites  and 
feeding  rivers  and  their  outpour  through  the  St.  Lawrence 
into  the  sea.  The  vision  of  a  route  to  Cathay,  or  the  en- 
chanted East,  yet  lingered  in  many  minds  and  even  affected 
the  gallant  La  Salle  as,  after  various  adventures,  the  expen- 
diture of  private  means  upon  fur-trading  expeditions  and 
minor  explorations,  he  set  out  in  1682  to  find  the  mouth  of 
the  Mississippi,  and,  perhaps,  a  passage  to  China  itself.  Ac- 
companied by  Henri  de  Tonti,  who  had  proved  his  right  arm 
in  many  undertakings.  La  Salle  crossed  from  Lake  Michigan 
into  the  current  of  the  Illinois  and  thence  into  the  great  river 
itself.  As  they  passed  down  the  Mississippi  amid  Indians, 
sometimes  friendly,  sometimes  hostile,  and  for  what  seemed 
an  almost  endless  distance,  they  went  from  winter  into  the 
budding  beauties  of  spring  and  the  ripe  richness  of  summer. 

In  triumph  they  reached  the  mouth  of  the  river  and  pro- 
claimed the  whole  vast  region  a  French  possession  under 
the  name  of  Louisiana;  in  triumph  they  returned  to  Quebec 
in  the  spring  of  1683;  in  triumph  La  Salle  appeared  later 
on  at  the  French  Court.  As  with  all  these  early  explorers 
the  fascination  of  the  scene  was,  however,  too  great,  and  he 
again  sailed  from  France  with  a  strong  expedition  to  find 
the  mouth  of  the  river  from  the  sea  and  to  found  a  colony 
which  should  make  the  country  French  in  fact  as  well  as 
in  name.  He  failed  to  find  the  place,  landed  his  men  some 
hundreds  of  miles  away,  and  started  overland  in  search  of 
it.  In  the  heart  of  the  fearful  wilderness  of  forest,  swamp, 
and  sluggish  streams,  his  men  mutinied,  and  at  their  hands 
died  the  great  explorer. 

But  his  life  had  once  more  proved  the  venturesome  cour- 
age of  his  race  and  had  aided  the  work  of  Cartier  and  Cham- 
plain,  of  devoted  priest  and  daring  voyageur,  of  fur-trader 


Ill 


lll- 


86 


THE  STORY   OF   TEE  DOMINION 


and  reckless  young  noble,  in  opening  to  France  a  possible 
pathway  to  power  and  in  unrolling  the  map  of  a  vast  con- 
tinent. 


CHAPTER    II 


■>!»• 


THE   INDIANS   OF   EARLY   CANADA 


ill: 


HE  story  of  the  Indian  in  North  America  has  never 
been  fully  written.  Parkman,  in  brilliant  but  re- 
stricted pages,  has  described  the  customs  and  char- 
acteristics of  the  Iroquois  and  Hurons  as  they  appeared  in 
the  days  of  the  famous  struggle  with  the  French.  Many 
volumes  of  American  history  have  been  produced  which 
illustrate  and  depict  the  cruelty  or  treachery  of  the  white 
man's  enemy,  but  do  scant  justice  to  the  noble  qualities  which 
he  undoubtedly  possessed.  Historic  memories  yet  linger  in 
a  myriad  villages  throughout  Canada  and  the  United  States, 
of  midnight  raids  and  scalping  expeditions  and  savage  rites; 
while  the  smoke  of  blazing  settlements  and  the  cry  of  tor- 
tured prisoners  echo  down  the  aisles  of  time  and  still  shadow 
with  gloom  and  bitterness  the  pen  of  the  most  impartial 
writer.  Especially  has  this  been  the  case  in  British  America, 
where  the  prolonged  conflict  of  the  Iroquois  and  French, 
and  the  marvelous  heroism  of  pioneer  priests  and  mission- 
aries, have  stirred  into  ready  sympathy  the  racial  sentiment 
of  every  student  and  speaker.     ,  ,;.,">     .^ .  « 

A    CHAKACTER    OF   SINGULAR    COMPLEXITY  ':         " 

Yet  there  was  much  to  admire  and  respect  in  these  sav- 
age possessors  of  the  primeval  wilderness  of  America,  and 
of  all  the  aboriginal  races  the  Indians*  appear  as  at  once 
the  most  picturesque  and  the  most  peculiar. 

The  life  of  the  red  man  was  one  of  contrasts,  his  char- 
acter one  of  singular  complexity.     Cruelty  toward  his  foe 

•  So  called  from  the  belief  of  Columbus  that  the  natives  of  San  Salva- 
dor were  people  akin  to  those  of  the  East  Indies --     -.  ^ 


i 


THE   INDIANS   OF  EARLY   CANADA 


37 


ssible 
,  con- 


-  •.  .>_ 

never 
lut  re- 
[  char- 
red in 
Many 
which 
white 
i  which 
iger  in 
States, 
e  rites; 
of  tor- 
shadow 
tipartial 
merica, 
French, 
mission- 
ntiment 


lese  sav- 

•ica,  and 

at  once 

his  char- 
l  his  foe 

San  Salva- 


was  combined  with  stoical  indifference  to  torture  or  pain  when 
his  own  turn  came.  Treachery  in  war  was  a  matter  of 
course,  yet  his  faithfulness  to  friends  was  a  quality  whose 
strength  even  a  Christian  civilization  might  find  reasons  to 
emulate.  His  personal  pride  was  at  times  so  great  as  to 
become  an  insane  egotism,  yet  at  other  moments  his  humility 
stooped  to  the  lowest  depths  of  self-abasement.  His  self- 
restraint  rose  to  the  heights  of  an  almost  heroic  self-repres- 
sion and  then  disappeared  at  sudden  intervals  in  bursts  of 
unbridled  and  utterly  savage  rage. 

He  was  at  once  cold  and  hard  and  unrelenting  in  action 
and  passionate  and  revengeful  in  disposition.  He  was  ig- 
norant and  superstitious  by  nature  in  an  extreme  degree, 
yet  keen  and  quick  of  thought  beyond  modern  parallel.  He 
treated  his  women  as  do  all  savage  peoples,  and  considered 
himself  far  superior  to  the  necessities  of  labor  or  servitude. 
For  him  were  reserved  the  lordly  occupations  of  the  chase, 
the  spectacular  glories  of  war,  the  physical  victories  of  self- 
torture  in  youthful  days  and  of  privations  in  the  wilderness, 
or  upon  the  warpath,  in  the  days  of  manhood.  Yet  he  was 
moral  in  the  highest  degree  and  was  never  guilty  of  those 
weaker  and  meaner  vices  which  stamped  and  destroyed  the 
character  of  the  ancient  Roman  and  have  left  their  deep 
impress  upon  modern  France  and  the  greater  cities  of  our 
own  civilization.  .  ^^  ,       , 

SLEEPLESS    SUSPICION    OE    OTHERS 

Love  of  liberty  in  its  wild  primeval  form  the  Indian  pos- 
sessed, to  an  extent  wKch  made  him  contemptuous  of  all 
arbitrary  rule  or  personal  control,  and  affected  not  a  little 
his  relation  to  the  incoming  tide  of  white  men.  Sleepless 
suspicion  of  others  formed  a  natural  part  of  his  surround- 
ings of  war  and  treachery  and  solitude.  Like  the  Italian  he 
preferred  to  send  a  secret  blow  or  despatch  the  shaft  of  an 
ambushed  arrow,  to  open  fighting  or  public  revenge;  while 
the  triumph  of  holding  an  enemy's  scalp  at  his  belt  was  to 
him  what  the  golden  spurs  of  knighthood  have  been  to  many 


I 


88 


THE   STOBY    OF    THE   DOMINION 


i'^^ 


a  Christian  warrior  of  old,  or  the  thanks  of  Parliament  and 
honors  from  the  Crown  are  to  the  British  soldier  of  to-day. 
Like  the  Spaniard  he  was  dark  and  sinister  in  his  punish- 
ments and  retaliations.  Like  nearly  all  savage  races  his  war- 
fare was  one  of  sudden  and  secret  surprise,  ruthless  and 
ready  slaughter.  Like  the  nations  of  the  whites,  his  tribes 
also  warred  continually  against  each  other.      -U  r.t  liv!  x>je*! 

Looking  back  now  upon  the  vast  panorama  of  forest  and 
prairie,  lake  and  river  over  which  the  Indian  wandered  upon 
foot  or  glided  in  his  birch-bark  canoe;  bearing  in  mind  the 
stern  hardships  of  the  winter  season  and  the  wild  happy 
freedom  of  the  summer  time;  remembering  the  absence  of 
all  high  tradition,  spiritual  influence  or  intellectual  knowl- 
edge, one  can  not  but  be  impressed  by  the  character  and 
conditions  of  the  people  who  first  faced  the  fire-sticks  of 
Champlain,  the  more  fatal  fire-water  of  the  French  trader, 
and  the  fierce  zeal  of  the  Jesuit  missionary.  A  native  of  the 
wilds,  a  product  of  primeval  conditions,  the  Indian  believed 
in  the  right  and  liberty  to  roam  at  will  over  his  wide  realm 
of  wilderness  and  water.  Just  as  nature  had  made  him  a 
noble  animal,  with  instincts  which  at  times  raised  him  to  a 
high  level  of  character  and  achievement;  so,  also,  it  filled 
him  at  first  with  simple  admiration  of  the  stranger  who 
came  with  such  attractive  gifts,  such  wonderful  weapons, 
and  such  curious  customs.  After  some  experience  of  the 
white  man's  initial  follies  of  policy  and  action,  the  instincts 
of  nature,  however,  changed  his  confidence  into  permanent 
distrust — and  this  in  the  case  of  the  American  savage  meant 
a  more  or  less  sleepless  hostility. 

When  the  earlier  discoverers  and  explorers  found  their  way 
into  the  wilds  of  Canada  they  came  into  contact  and  then  col- 
lision with  various  Indian  tribes  or  nations.  The  great  family 
of  the  Algonquins  extended  right  up  through  the  middle  of 
the  continent  and  constituted  the  central  race  of  the  French 
possessions — reaching  also  In  scattered  masses  from  the  At- 
lantic to  Lake  Winnipeg  and  from  the  Carolinas  to  Hud- 
son's Bav.  These  were  the  Indians  whom  Cartier  encountered 


I 


THE   IIJDIANS   OF   EARLY   CANADA 


89 


mt  and 
to-day. 
punish- 
lis  war- 
ass  and 
s  tribes 

est  and 
3d  upon 
lind  the 
[  happy 
lence  of 
knowl- 
iter  and 
ticks  of 
L  trader, 
e  of  the 
Delieved 
le  realm 
e  him  a 
lim  to  a 
it  filled 
rer  who 
veapons, 
of  the 
instincts 
rmanent 
e  meant 

leir  way 
then  col- 
t  family 
liiddle  of 
I  French 
the  At- 
to  Hud- 
ountered 


on  the  banks  of  the  St.  Lawrence,  Penn  in  the  forests  of 
the  Keystone  State,  Raleigh  upon  the  coast  of  Virginia,  and 
Jesuits  and  fur-traders  in  the  Valley  of  the  Ohio  and  on 
the  shores  of  Lake  Superior. 

Of  these  people  were  the  Delawares  and  the  Shawnees. 
The  latter  were  a  strange,  wandering  tribe  whose  location 
it  is  difficult  to  fix,  but  who  are  known  to  have  more  than 
once  come  into  conflict  with  the  French.  They  eventually 
settled  on  Canadian  soil  and  in  a  later  century  played  a 
brief  but  important  part  under  the  great  Tecumseh.  The 
former  were  at  one  time  conquered  by  the  more  famous 
Iroquois  and  compelled  to  bear  the  opprobrious  Indian  name 
of  women;  but  in  one  of  the  French  and  English  wars  they 
recovered  at  once  their  courage  and  their  reputation.  Other 
branches  dwelt  along  the  Canadian  shores  of  the  Atlantic 
and  north  and  east  of  Lakes  Michigan  and  Huron.  These 
latter  tribes  included  the  Ojibbiways,  Pottawattamies,  and 
Ottawas,  and  at  one  time  formed  a  loose  and  fluctuating 
alliance  for  the  purpose  of  opposing  the  course  of  Iroquois 
conquest.  In  this  region  also  were  the  Sacs,  the  Foxes,  and 
other  smaller  divisions  of  the  Algonquin  race.  The  Nova 
Scotian  offshoots  have  since  been  called  Mic-macs,  those  of 
western  New  Brunswick  were  named  Etchemins,  while  the 
Moutagnais  of  Quebec  and  the  Nipissings  of  the  far  North 
shared  the  same  ancestral  tree. 

THE    IROQUOIS    INDIANS 

But  the  great  race  of  American  history  was  the  Iroquois, 
which  stretched  across  what  afterward  became  known  as  the 
State  of  New  York,  and  made  for  itself  a  name  of  terror 
upon  the  shores  of  the  Great  Lakes  and  far  down  the  At- 
lantic coast.  The  Iroquois  comprised  in  themselves  both  the 
best  and  the  worst  traits  of  savage  nature  as  developed  by 
the  solitudes  of  North  America.  Intense  in  their  pride, 
lustful  in  their  desire  for  conquest,  savage  in  their  cruelties, 
they  were  also  able  in  organizing  power,  strong  in  a  sort 
of  barbaric  intellectual  strength,  constant  alike  in  friendship 


40 


THE  STORY   OF   THE  DOMINION 


and  hatred,  energetic  beyond  all  comparison.  Traditions 
which  have  a  force  almost  equal  to  historic  fact  record  the 
birth  of  their  power  in  the  fifteenth  century  under  the  leader- 
ship, and  by  the  statecraft,  of  a  chief  named  Hiawatha. 

He  it  was,  who — according  to  the  translation  of  Indian 
wampum  records  by  the  late  Dr.  Horatio  Hale — conceived 
the  plan  of  a  vast  native  confederation  which  should  turn 
the  mind  of  the  Indian  from  fighting  to  the  paths  of  peace 
and  contentment.  He  it  was  who  devised  the  famous  Iro- 
quois system  of  separate  nations  controlling  their  own  local 
affairs  but  lodging  general  interests  in  the  hands  of  a  com- 
mon council  of  all  the  nations,  capable  of  indefinite  expansion 
in  the  number  of  tribes  included,  and  a  weapon,  therefore, 
of  enormous  power  in  the  hands  of  an  able  man.  Into  the 
proposed  league  Hiawatha  eventually  drew  the  Mohawks, 
the  Oneidas,  the  Cayugas,  the  Senecas,  and  the  Onondagas. 
Writing  toward  the  end  of  the  eighteenth  century,  and  amid 
influences  of  surrounding  hatred  and  hostility  which  made 
any  kind  of  fair  play  to  the  Indian  difficult,  the  Hon.  Cad- 
wallader  Colden — a  well-knoAvn  New  York  historian — says 
of  the  Iroquois  organization  and  polity  as  it  appeared  in  his 
day,  that: 

"Each  of  these  nations  is  an  absolute  republic  in  itself.  The  authority 
of  the  rulers  is  gained  by,  and  consists  wholly  in,  the  opinion  the  rest 
of  the  nation  have  of  their  wisdom  and  integrity.  Honor  and  esteem  are 
their  principal  rewards,  as  shame  and  being  despised  are  their  punish- 
ments. Their  great  men,  both  sachems  and  captains,  are  generally  pooi-er 
than  the  common  people,  for  they  affect  to  give  away  and  distribute  all 
the  presents  and  plunder  they  get  in  their  treaties  oi  In  war.  There  is 
not  a  man  in  the  Ministry  (Council)  of  the  Five  Nations  who  has  gained 
his  office  otherwise  than  by  merit,  and  there  is  not  the  least  salary,  or 
any  sort  of  profit  annexed  to  any  office  to  tempt  the  covetous  or  sordid." 

The  bitter  enemies,  and  eventual  victims,  of  the  Iroquois 
were  the  Huron  tribes  of  the  regions  bordering  on  Georgian 
Bay  and  in  the  vicinity  of  Lake  Simcoe.  They  were  vari- 
ously recorded  in  history  or  tradition  as  numbering  from 
ten  to  twenty  thousand  souls  and  were  certainly  of  a  higher 
type  thai'  other  savage  races  of  their  time.    In  many  respects 


THE  INDIANS   OF  EARLY   CANADA 


41 


iditions 
ord  the 

leader- 
ha. 

Indian 
nceived 
lid  turn 
)f  peace 
0U8  Iro- 
ATn  local 
:  a  com- 
<pansion 
lerefore, 
Into  the 
[ohawks, 
.ondagaa. 
md  amid 
ch  made 
on.  Cad- 
an — says 
ed  in  his 


;  authority 
)ii  the  rest 

esteem  are 
eir  punish- 
ally  poorer 
stribute  all 
There  is 

has  gained 
salary,  or 

or  sordid." 

Iroquois 
Georgian 
vere  vari- 
ing  from 
:  a  higher 
y  respects 


the  Huron  and  Iroquois  were  alike  and  in  fact  were  related 
in  the  tribal  sense.  The  nature  of  their  dwelling-houses, 
their  stockaded  villages  and  cultivated  lands,  their  habits  of 
permanent  settlement,  were  very  similar;  as  were  many  of 
their  manners,  customs,  and  superstitions.  From  1609,  for 
nearly  eighty  years,  they  remained  deadly  rivals  and  then 
the  weaker  disappeared  from  view.  Meanwhile,  however, 
many  pages  of  history  had  to  be  written  in  deeds  of  strug- 
gle and  slaughter  before  that  time  came,  although  the  steady 
progress  of  the  Iroquois  is  always  noticeable. 

The  Neutral  Nation,  living  along  the  north  shore  of  Lake 
Erie,  and  striving  for  a  while  to  remain  friends  with  both 
the  rival  tribes;  the  Andastes,  dwelling  in  fortified  villages 
in  the  far  valley  of  tlie  Susquehanna;  the  Eries,  living  in 
the  vicinity  of  the  lake  which  bears  their  name,  were  all  of 
kin  to  the  Iroquois  and  were  all  conquered  and  practically 
destroyed  by  that  ambitious  federation  of  savages.  Then 
came  the  conquest  of  the  Delawares,  or  Lenapes,  and  the 
expulsion  of  the  Ottawas  fronj  the  vicinity  of  the  great 
river  which  now  runs  past  the  capital  of  Canada.  Fortu- 
nately for  the  future  of  the  white  people,  though  unfortu- 
nately for  a  certain  barbaric  civilization  which  might  in  time 
have  been  evolved,  the  Five  Nations  had  forgotten  the  teach- 
ings of  Hiawatha  and,  while  sensible  of  the  benefits  which 
came  from  their  own  union,  did  not  grasp  the  ideal  which 
might  have  extended  that  union  until  it  included  all  the 
Indian  tribes  and  evolved  a  force  which  might  have  swept 
the  French  into  the  St.  Lawrence.  A  glimmer  of  this  idea 
was  apparent  in  the  admission  of  the  Tuscaroras  when  final 
success  had  become  impossible ;  a  despairing  perception  of 
it  came  fifty  years  later  to  a  natural  genius  in  the  person 
of  Pontiac  as  he  organized  the  league  of  Indian  tribes  which 
resulted  in  a  prolonged  and  bloody  struggle.  -*"-"  ■^rir-r--^-^;—--^ 

As  it  was,  however,  the  Iroquois  in  their  fighting  strength 
and  influence  present  a  striking  picture  upon  the  page  of  his- 
tory, and  it  was  well,  indeed,  that  their  constructive  force 
did  not  equal  their  destructive  power.     Yet  they  could  never 


42 


THE   STORY    OF   THE   DOMINION 


•t(! 


-'■- 


I.'' 


have  numbered  more  than  five  thousand  warriors,  all  told. 
Swift  and  silent  movement  from  place  to  place,  i)erfect  fa- 
miliarity with  every  stick  and  stone,  every  sign  and  symbol, 
every  sense  and  sound  of  forest  life,  enabled  them  to  use  their 
small  numbers  with  a  weight  out  of  all  apparent  proportion. 
But  it  was  really  tlie  same  with  all  the  savage  races  of  Noi*tli 
America,  though  in  differing  degrees.  Garneau,  in  his  ''His- 
tory of  French  Canada,"  estimates  the  Algonquin  population 
when  the  French  first  came  into  contact  with  them  at  90,000, 
the  Ilurons  and  Iroquois  together  at  about  17,000,  the  Mo- 
biles of  the  far  south  at  30,000,  and  the  Cherokees  of  what  is 
now  tlie  centre  of  tlie  United  States  at  12,000.  His  total  is 
180,000  for  the  greater  part  of  the  continent,  and,  in  view  of 
the  privations  undergone  in  winter  time  and  the  constant  con- 
ditions of  warfare  involved,  it  is  probable  that  this  estimate  is 
fairly  correct.  Tlie  statements  and  suppositions  of  travelers 
such  as  Cartier,  Jolliete,  Marquette,  De  la  Jonquiere,  and 
others,  help  also  to  indicate  the  probability  of  his  figures. 

•  THE  INmANS  PAST  AND  PRESENT 

So  far  as  can  now  be  judged  tlie  original  Indian — the 
aborigine  of  pre-Cartier  days — was  not  naturally  inclined  to 
hostility  toward  the  new-comers,  and  was,  in  fact,  more  dis- 
posed to  hospitality.  He  had  much  of  curiosity  in  his  charac- 
ter as  well  as  of  superstition,  and  both  qualities  might  have 
been  utilized  in  the  direction  of  j^eace  and  educative  influ- 
ences. Ilakluyt,  in  his  account  of  Cartier's  first  visit  to 
Hoclielaga,  lays  great  stress  upon  the  bountiful  generosity 
ox  the  natives.  Turnbull,  in  his  work  upon  Connecticut, 
pays  them  an  unusual  American  tribute,  and  says  the  natives 
practically  saved  the  lives  of  the  first  settlers  by  their  gen- 
erosity in  supplying  corn  and  other  food.  Similar  expe- 
riences have  been  recorded  by  others,  and  the  response  which 
history  stamps  upon  the  white  man  is  found  in  such  kid- 
napping episodes  as  have  already  been  described,  in  the  ag- 
gressive policy  of  Champlain,  in  the  harshness  of  the  New 
England  settlers,  in  the  cruelties  of  the  Spaniards  to  the 


THE  INDIANS   OF  EARLY    CANADA 


11  told, 
[ect  f  a- 
jymbol, 
ae  their 
portion. 
E  Noi-tli 
is  'His- 
^Illation 

90,000, 
the  Mo- 

what  is 
I  total  is 

view  of 
tant  con- 
timate  is 
travelers 
ere,  and 
Hires. 


ian — the 
lined  to 
nore  dis- 
s  charac- 
ght  have 
vc  infill- 
visit  to 
enerosity 
mecticut, 
le  natives 
leir  gen- 
ar  expe- 
ise  which 
such  kid- 
n  the  ag- 
the  New 
as  to  the 


floutli,  in  the  indescribable  horrors  of  the  Cortez  and  Pizarro 
campaigns. 

The  character  of  the  Indian,  in  days  when  the  whole  wild 
continent  was  his,  differs  so  greatly  from  the  emasculated 
product  of  modern  civilization  that  no  judgment  of  former 
conditions  can  be  based  upon  present  appearances.  Though 
the  matter  of  origin  has  never  been  settled,  there  were  sim- 
ilarities which  stamped  the  savages  of  America  as  possible 
descendants  of  migrating  Tartars  from  the  steppes  of  Central 
Asia.  They  were,  as  a  rule,  tall  and  slender  and  agile  in 
form,  with  faces  bronzed  by  sun  and  wind  and  rain.  Their 
expression  was  stern  and  sombre,  seldom  or  never  marked  by  a 
smile.  Their  heads  had  high  cheek-bones,  small,  sunken,  and 
keenly  flashing  eyes,  narrow  foreheads,  thick  lips,  somewhat 
flat  noses,  and  coarse  hair.  The  senses  of  sight  and  sound 
and  smell  and  feeling  were  developed  into  a  sort  of  forest 
instinct,  which  seemed  almost  supernatural  to  the  early  white 
settlers,  and  finds  such  vivid  expression  in  Fenimore  Cooper's 
brilliant  romances.  Their  costume  of  deerskin  and  mocca- 
sins, tlieir  necklaces  of  wampum  and  shells,  their  ornaments 
of  feathers,  claws,  or  scalps,  their  fondness  for  daubing  the 
body  and  face  with  vermilion  paint,  their  use  of  the  arrow, 
the  tomahawk,  and  the  scalping-knife,  soon  became  terribly 
familiar  to  the  ring  of  white  man,  who,  century  by  century, 
slowly  drove  in  and  dispossessed  these  earlier  owners  of  the 
soil — as  it  is  not  improbable  they  had  driven  the  still  more 
ancient  race  whose  mounds  and  buried  cities  and  curious  re- 
mains still  excite  the  wonder  of  the  archaeologist,  from  the  far 
north  to  the  farthest  south. 

Hunting,  or  fishing,  was  the  occupation  of  these  Arabs  of 
the  American  wilderness,  fighting  their  continual  pastime. 
Hence,  permanent  dwelling-places  were  not  usual,  except 
among  the  Hurons  and  Iroquois,  and  their  life  was  one  of 
ceaseless  wandering.  Their  religion  was  always  of  a  j^ecu- 
liarly  mixed  and  doubtful  quality.  Champlain  has  left  on 
record  the  statement  that  the  Mic-macs  of  Acadie  had  neither 
devotional  ideas  nor  superstitious  ceremonies.     Other  tribes 


44 


THE  STORY    OF  THE  DOMINION 


■H|K)n  the  St.  Lawrence  assured  him  that  each  man  had  his 
own  god,  whom  he  worshiped  in  secret  silence.  They  seem, 
however,  to  have  usually  worshiped  something,  whether  the 
spirit  of  good,  the  spirit  of  evil,  the  spirit  of  storm,  the  god 
of  war,  tlie  spirit  of  the  mountains,  or  a  spirit  of  the  waters. 

They  peopled  all  the  surrounding  air  with  friendly  or  hos- 
tile spirits,  and  created  ig  themselves  those  powerful  ma- 
nipulators of  superstitio  -the  medicine  men — to  control  the 
demons  of  storm  and  famine  and  disease  and  death,  which  a 
vivid  imagination  had  called  into  existence.  To  these  priests 
of  a  peculiar  and  varied  faith  they  also  confined  the  care  of 
the  sick,  and  there  is  little  doubt  that  experience  and  neces- 
sity had  evolved  many  a  simple  yet  effective  remedy  by  the 
time  the  white  man  appeared  on  the  scene.  Great  faith  was 
placed  in  dreams,  and  oratory  was  almost  as  important  a 
factor  in  success  as  bravery.  The  orations  that  have  come 
down  to  us  are  in  many  cases  models  of  conciseness,  brevity, 
and  forcefulness,  not  unmixed  at  times  with  a  touch  of  patlios. 
In  morals,  the  Indian  ■  's  far  superior  to  most  other  savage 
races.  He  had  one  w  nd,  though  she  was  expected  to  do 
most  of  the  work  and  l^  bear  a  full  share  in  hardship  and 
suffering,  he  did  not  wantonly  ill-treat  her,  and  was  usually 
faithful  to  her,  as  she  was  to  him.  With  the  appearance  of 
the  white  settlers  this  latter  condition  unfortunately  changed, 
though,  in  all  the  wars  which  followed,  the  captured  white 
woman  was  safe  from  anything  worse  than  the  scalping-knife. 
Nor  in  any  instances  of  captivity  recorded  do  women  and 
children  appear  to  have  been  subject  to  torture  at  the  hands 
of  their  captors. 

The  customs  and  character  of  the  American  aborigine 
turned  mainly,  however,  upon  war.  A  struggle  between  two 
rival  tribes  or  nations  could  be  brought  on  by  the  most  trivial 
cause,  or  by  almost  any  ambitious  or  relentless  individual. 
When  determined  upon,  it  became  the  source  of  almost  un- 
controllable jcv,  of  wild  dances,  of  eloquent  harangues,  of 
multitudinous  prayers  and  sacrifices,  of  feasts  and  endless 
bravado  and  boasting.     Then  followed  a  period  of  absolute 


I 


THE   INDIANS    OF    EARLY    CANADA 


40 


I  had  his 
tiey  seem, 
icther  tlio 
n,  the  god 
he  waters, 
lly  or  ho8- 
(rerful  Ttia- 
control  the 
h,  which  a 
leae  prieste 
the  care  of 
and  neces- 
ledy  hy  the 
t  faith  was 
mportant  a 
have  come 
ess,  brevity, 
jh  of  pathos. 
3ther  savage 
pccted  to  do 
ardship  and 
was  usually 
)pearance  of 
ely  changed, 
5tured  whitA^^ 
alping-knife. 
women  and 
at  the  hands 

an  aborigine 
between  two 
i  most  trivial 

is  individual. 

3f  almost  un- 
larangues,  of 
and  endless 

,d  of  absolute 


silence  and  secret  preparation,  departure  in  the  night  time, 
and  a  long,  patient  waiting  by  squaws  and  ola  braves  and 
young  boys  for  the  return.  Perhaps  the  expedition  never 
came  back,  but  if  it  did  so,  with  scalps  and  prisoners,  the 
welcoming  din  of  shouts  and  shrieks  pnd  tom-toms  presented 
a  perfect  pandemonium  of  sound.  Then  followed  the  fright- 
ful torture  of  tlie  captives,  controlled  somewhat  by  degree  or 
rank,  but  always  borne  with  a  stoical  endurance  and  pride. 
Such  were  the  savages  whom  Champlain  encountered  and  the 
French  fought  during  over  a  hundred  years  of  intermittent 
warfare. 

Such,  also,  were  the  savages  who,  in  modified  or  varied 
characteristics,  extended  from  Lake  Sujierior  through  the  far 
west  and  north  to  the  Pacific  Ocean,  and  about  whom  much 
less  is  known.  They  were  great  hunters,  and  in  time  became 
most  expert  horsemen.  The  Dacotahs,  or  Sioux,  were  a  nation 
of  allies,  not  unlike  the  Iroquois  in  many  respects,  and  cover- 
ing tlie  southern  region  of  Manitoba  and  Assiniboia.  With 
them  and  around  them  were  the  Crees  and  Assinihoines,  while 
to  the  north  were  the  Chipj^wayans,  and  around  Hudson's 
3  ly  and  the  northern  lakes  were  scattered  the  Chipjjewas. 
V  th  the  exception  of  the  Sioux  these  tribes  were  not  ap- 
pai  ntly  as  varlike  as  those  in  the  more  central  part  of  the 
contu,(mt,  and,  when  settlement  came,  they  showed  a  much 
more  docile  disposition,  mixing  in  years  to  come  with  the 
hunters  and  trapj^ers  to  an  extent  which  is  fully  illustrated 
by  the  Half-breed  population  of  1870  and  1900.  In  British 
Columbia  and  the  far  north  the  Indians  were  a  decidedly  in- 
ferior race  to  those  of  other  parts  of  the  continent — a  condi- 
tion probably  due  to  the  milder  climate  and  to  the  lack  of 
necessity  for  severe  exertion  in  order  to  obtain  food.  Under 
white  pioneer  auspices  they  became  greatly  degraded,  though 
subject,  in  later  days,  to  Christianizing  influences.  The  Flat- 
heads,  the  Haidas,  tlie  Mitkas,  and  the  now  almost  extinct 
Chinooks,  comprised  the  chief  divisions,  and  the  most  of 
these  were  akin  to  tlie  Chippewayans  of  tlie  plains  of  the  east. 


46 


THE    STORY   OF    TEE   DOMINION 


THE   lEOQUOIS   AND   THE   FRENCH 

Meanwhile,  the  French  settlers  scattered  along  the  banks  of 
the  St.  Lawrence,  in  the  seventeenth  century,  knew  nothing 
of  these  far-away  tribes  who  hunted  the  buffalo  on  the  bound- 
less prairies,  or  erected  their  tepees  upon  the  banks  of  some 
great  salmon  stream  on  the  Pacific  Slope  of  the  unknown 
Rockies.  The  Frenchmen  had  quite  enough  to  face  in  the 
savages  more  immediately  surrounding  them,  and  the  deeds 
of  heroism,  on  both  sides  of  the  desultory  v/arfare  which  fol- 
lowed the  death  of  Champlain,  constitute  a  most  impressive 
picture.  Montreal  was  founded  in  1642  by  Le  Royer  de  la 
Dauversiere  and  Jean  Jacques  Olier,  and  was  governed  in  its 
earlier  days  by  the  iron  hand  and  courage  of  De  Maisson- 
neuve.  It  formed  one  more  object  of  attack  to  the  Iroquois, 
who  had,  of  late,  been  gaining  strength  and  confidence,  and 
were  now  supplied  with  firearms  by  grace  of  the  Dutch  trad- 
ers at  Fort  Orange.  The  annals  of  the  twenty  years  which 
followed  make  an  epic  poem  in  the  endurance,  the  courage, 
the  constancy  of  the  little  white  population  of  Ville  Marie — 
as  Montreal  was  cali3d — and  of  the  other  fortified  settlements 
of  New  France. 

Up  and  doAvn  the  rivers  floated  the  crowded  canoes  of  a 
merciless  enemy,  every  path  through  the  forest  seemed  to  be 
a  ready  road  to  Iroquois  capture  and  torture,  every  tree  in 
the  wilderness  to  be  an  Indian  warrior.  The  savages  lurked 
in  the  most  unexpected  places;  hang  silently  upon  the  out- 
skirts of  Ville  Marie  or  Quebec ;  waited  with  sleepless  pa- 
tience for  the  ap])earance  of  some  straggling  white  man  or 
solitary  woman  from  the  convent  walls.  Only  the  strongest 
of  armed  parties  could  pass  east  or  west,  only  the  firmest  of 
fortified  walls  were  safe  when  the  haunting  war-whoop  of  the 
enemy  was  heard.  The  fur  trade  was  dead,  and,  in  1649, 
came  the  death  of  the  Huron  nation,  the  destruction  of  the 
Jesuit  missions,  and  the  greatest  day  of  Iroquois  power. 
Their  war  parties  swept  over  the  Huron  villages  like  a  Da- 
kotan  tornado,  and  only  a  scattered  remnant  of  the  race  lived 


m 


J! 

i 


THE   INDIANS    OF   EARLY   CANADA 


47 


)  banks  of 
V  nothing 
he  bonnd- 
s  of  some 
unknown 
ice  in  the 
the  deeds 
-which  fol- 
impressive 
oyer  de  la 
rned  in  its 
e  Maisson- 
e  Iroquois, 
dence,  and 
Dutch  trad- 
^ears  which 
^e  courage, 
le  Marie — 
settlements 

anoes  of  a 
emed  to  be 
ory  tree  in 
i>;es  lurked 
on  the  out- 
lepless  pa- 
ite  man  or 
le  strongest 
firmest  of 
■hoop  of  tho 
1,  in  1640, 
•tion  of  tho 
iiois   power, 
like  a  T)a- 
)  race  lived 


to  reach  the  walls  of  Quebec,  or  Ville  Marie,  and  to  tell  the 
tale  of  slaughtered  converts  and  martyred  missionaries. 

These  years  of  agony  came  to  a  climax  during  the  decade 
foliov/ing  1650.  The  stone  walls  of  the  convents  were  no 
longer  a  sufficient  protection  and  the  nuns  fled  to  the  cities  for 
protection.  Around  Quebec  and  Montreal  the  Indians  scalped 
and  slaughtered  with  apparent  immunity.  Little  or  no  help 
came  from  France,  and  then  a  malignant  fever  suddenly 
broke  out  among  the  people.  Not  all  the  light-heartedness  of 
the  French  race  could  bear  up  against  this  combination  of 
disasters,  this  cloud  of  destruction,  which  hung  low  over  the 
land.  Those  who  could  fled  away  to  France,  those  who  could 
not  seemed  to  lose  their  hold  upon  hope.  Strange  portents 
were  seen  in  the  skies.  D'Argenson,  the  Governor,  shrinking 
from  misery  around  him  which  he  was  unable  to  remedy,  de- 
manded his  recall,  and  at  last,  in  1660,  came  the  news  that 
the  Iroquois  had  determined  upon  one  general  and  concen- 
trated attack  which  should  crush  the  white  man  and  make  the 
power  of  the  great  Iroquois  nation  finally  supreme.  Hundreds 
gathered  below  Montreal,  hundreds  more  gathered  upon  the 
Ottawa,  and  news  came  that  the  greatest  war  party  in  savage 
history  was  about  to  sweep  down  upon  devoted  Ville  Marie. 

At  this  crisis  a  deed  was  performed  which  has  justly  been 
called  the  Thermopylae  of  Canada,  and  which  merits  a  place 
among  the  finest  records  of  sacrificial  courage.  Daulac  des 
Ormeoux,  a  young  French  nobleman,  who  had  sought  the  new 
world  for  adventure  and  reputation  and  was  now  in  command 
of  the  little  garrison  at  Villo  Marie,  volunteered  to  lead  a 
small  party  of  young  men  down  the  Ottawa  and  to  break 
the  force  of  the  Iroquois  wave  before  it  reached  the  terrified 
and  disheartened  defenders  of  the  town.  Calling  for  volun- 
teers, he  obtained  the  aid  of  sixteen  youthful  heroes,  and 
afterward  of  some  friendly  Hurons — who,  however,  deserted 
him  when  the  critical  time  came. 

HEROISM    OF   DAULAC 

Making    their   wills,    receiving   the   sacrament   of   their 


48 


THE   STORY   OF  TEE  DOMINION 


Church,  and  the  mournful  farewells  which  can  be  better 
imagined  than  described,  the  gallant  little  band  passed  up 
the  St.  Lawrence,  crossed  the  Lake  of  the  Two  Mountains, 
and  took  up  their  station  in  an  abandoned  inclosure  formed 
of  tree  trunks  by  some  Algonquin  war  party  of  a  preceding 
year.  Here  they  made  their  stand — seventeen  white  men, 
one  Algonquin  chief,  and  five  gallant  Hurons — and  here, 
for  days,  they  defended  themselves  against  hundreds  of 
picked  Iroquois  warriors  who  stormed  around  their  feeble 
shelter  without  intermission  and  with  every  device  of  ex- 
perienced forest  warfare.  Exhausted  with  fatigue,  fam- 
ished for  food  and  sleep  ^  wounded  and  gasping  and  dying, 
the  little  band  fought  on.  Slowly  their  numbers  diminished, 
but  steadily  also  the  dead  bodies  of  the  enemy  piled  up  out- 
side the  palisades,  until  the  walls  of  wooden  stakes  had  al- 
most ceased  to  be  a  shelter.  Then,  at  last,  when  all  the 
defenders  were  dead  but  five,  and  they  helpless  from  in- 
numerable wounds,  the  greatly  reinforced  army  of  the  enemy 
won  admission  to  the  inclosure.  Four  of  the  surviving  heroes 
died  at  once;  only  one  was  found  sufficiently  alive  to  make 
torture  worth  the  while. 

The  lesson  was  enough.  To  the  bravery  of  the  Iroquois 
nothing  appealed  so  greatly  as  courage,  and  such  courage 
as  this  revived  all  their  old-time  respect  for  the  white  man 
— a  feeling  which  had  diminished  in  proportion  as  the  rule 
of  religious  orders  had  prevented  the  expression  of  French 
warlike  spirit  and  the  absence  of  French  soldiers  had  pre- 
vented aggressive  action.  If  seventeen  Frenchmen,  they 
argued,  could  keep  TOO  picked  warriors  at  bay  for  days  and 
kill  many  of  their  best  men,  what  would  the  population  of 
Ville  Marie  not  be  able  to  do?  The  great  expedition  with- 
drew to  its  lodges  and  for  a  time  there  was  rest  in  the  worn 
and  wearied  settlements.  Six  years  later,  in  the  winter  of 
1666,  De  Courcelles,  the  bold  but  rash  nobleman  who  now 
governed  the  Colony,  undertook  to  lead  an  expedition  to  the 
banks  of  the  distant  Hudson  for  the  purpose  of  chastising  the 
Mohawks — perhaps  the  bravest  of  all  the  Five  Nations.     He 


< 


8C 


THE  INDIANS    OF  EARLY   CANADA 


49 


be  better 
jassed  up 
[ountains, 
re  formed 
preceding 
rhite  men, 
-and  here, 
ndreds   of 
leir  feeble 
ice  of  ex- 
igue,  fam- 
and  dying, 
liminisbed, 
led  up  out- 
kes  had  al- 
ien all  the 
38  from  in- 
£  the  enemy 
Uing  heroes 
Ive  to  make 


;he  Iroquois 
ich  courage 
white  man 
as  the  rule 
.  of  French 
irs  had  pre- 
hmen,   they 
for  days  and 
opulation  of 
adition  with- 
in the  worn 
le  winter  of 
an  who  now 
dition  to  the 
hastising  the 
i[ation8.     He 


f 


started  out  with  300  men  and  200  Indian  allies.  He  returned 
without  finding  the  enemy,  after  a  journey  of  severe  priva- 
tion and  labor,  and  with  the  loss  of  sixty  men  from  Indians 
who  had  hung  upon  his  rear.  In  the  autumn  a  second  ex- 
pedition was  more  successful,  the  villages  of  the  Mohawks 
were  destroyed  and  their  stores  of  food  carried  away  or 
burned.  These  retaliatory  expeditions  were  not  only  cred- 
itable to  French  bravery  and  endurance,  but,  owing  to  the 
immense  regions  traversed,  made  the  Iroquois  feel  an  increas- 
ing respect  for  the  long  arm  of  his  now  traditionary  enemy. 

During  the  next  eighty  years  the  history  of  the  Indians, 
so  far  as  New  France  is  concerned,  was  one  of  attack  and 
counter-attack,  of  plot  and  counter-plot.  .  Always  and  every- 
where the  Iroquois  had  been  the  deadly  enemies  of  the 
Frenchmen,  and  now,  with  savage  though  very  natural  sense, 
they  became  also  the  more  and  more  frequent  allies  of  the 
English.  To  hold  the  balance  of  power  between  the  two 
great  ilvals,  to  enable  the  one  to  kill  off  the  other,  and  to 
contribute  in  the  promotion  of  the  latter  process,  was  to 
the  savage  statesmen  a  most  congenial  task.  The  French 
had  their  allies,  also,  in  various  Algonquin  tribes  and  in  a 
scattered  remnant  of  the  Hurons. 

And  so  the  struggle  went  on.  Governor  Denonville,  in 
1687,  with  two  or  three  thousand  troops  invaded  the  country 
of  the  Senecas  and  committed  whatever  ravages  were  pos- 
sible. His  expedition  was  rendered  memorable  by  an  act 
of  treachery  which  was  not  only  bad  in  principle  and  char- 
acter but  disastrous  in  policy.  A  number  of  chiefs  were 
invited  to  a  conference  and  to  smoke  the  pipe  of  peace  at 
Fort  Frontenac — an  advance  port  on  the  St.  Lawrence. 
They  came,  were  surprised,  captured,  and  sent  to  France 
to  meet  a  fate  which  must  have  been  one  of  slow  and  sus- 
tained agony  as  slaves  in  the  king's  galleys.  The  villages 
of  the  tribes  were  burned,  their  cattle  and  swine  and  stores 
of  com  destroyed,  and  the  people  mercilessly  harried  until 
scattered  far  and  wide  and  their  strength  shattered  in  a  way 
from  which  they  never  recovered.  ■;»  .  ^ 

DOMINION— 3 


f 


m 


THE   STORY   OF   THE   DOMINION 


It  was  a  military  triumph,  but  the  result  was  an  instant 
combination  of  all  the  Iroquois  nations  in  a  swift  and  sav- 
age onslaught  upon  New  France.  In  small  detachments  they 
glided  like  shadows  of  revenge  upon  the  settlers,  and  settle- 
ments and  smoking  ruins,  or  the  remains  of  tortured  victims, 
stamped  keen  memories  of  pain  over  a  wide  area  of  the 
Colony.  So  swift  and  sure  was  the  vengeance  of  the  Indians, 
so  unable  was  he  to  adequately  meet  it,  that  Denonville 
felt  impelled  to  sue  for  peace.  Negotiations  were  com- 
menced, but  the  peace  was  killed  by  one  of  the  most  clever 
and  unscrupulous  incidents  in  the  annals  of  this  savage  war- 
fare. Kondiaronk,  or  "The  Rat,"  was  a  chief  of  the  small 
tribe  of  Hurons  at  distant  Michilimackinac  which  had  helped 
Denonville  in  his  Seneca  raid.  He  knew  that  no  peace  was 
possible  unless  his  tribal  remnant  were  given  up  to  Iroquois 
vengeance  through  the  removal  of  French  protection,  and 
he  determined  to  act  promptly  in  order  to  avert  such  a 
possibility.  Lying  in  wait  for  the  Iroquois  envoy,  as  they 
were  on  the  way  to  Montreal  to  conclude  the  treaty,  Kon- 
diaronk fell  upon  them,  killed  one  and  captured  the  rest — 
in  the  name  of  Denonville.  Then,  when  told  that  they  we"  3 
envoys  on  a  peace  mission,  he  pretended  intense  disgust  at  the 
treachery  of  Denonville  and  sent  them  away  loaded  with  gifts 
and  filled  with  wrath  at  this  second  evidence  of  what  they 
believed  to  be  i  rench  duplicity.  In  the  words  of  the  astute 
Huron  "the  Peace  was  killed"  indeed,  and,  indirectly,  Denon- 
ville's  original  treachery  had  met  a  just  and  fitting  reward. 

THE    LACHINE   MASSACEE 

Vengeance  to  the  Iroquois  mind  was  now  imperative,  and 
the  chiefs  of  the  Five  Nations  resolved  it  should  be  a  mem- 
orable one.  Months  of  French  suspense  and  Indian  silence 
followed  and  then  the  blow  fell.  On  the  night  of  August 
4,  1689,  fifteen  hundred  savages  swept  into  and  around  the 
^^llage  of  Lachine,  at  the  upper  end  of  Montreal  Island,  and 
the  wild  storm  which  nature  sent  at  the  same  time  failed 
to  silence  the  screeches  of  the  Indians  and  the  screams  of 


I 


e: 


THE  INDIANS   OF  EARLY   CANADA 


51 


instant 
nd  sav- 
its  they 
i  settle- 
victims, 
of  the 
[ndians, 
nonville 
re  corn- 
it  clever 
ige  war- 
be  small 
d  helped 
eace  was 
Iroquois 
ion,  and 
such   a 
as  they 
ty,  Kon- 
e  rest — 
ley  we""  3 
ist  at  the 
v^ith  gifts 
hat  they 
le  astute 
,  Denon- 
reward. 


;ive,  and 
a  mem- 
silence 
August 
ound  the 
and,  and 
le  failed 
reams  of 


n 


I 


their  victims.  The  vmter  of  to-day  has  to  draw  a  veil  over 
the  horrors,  the  tortures,  the  slaughter  of  that  night.  Suffice 
it  to  say  that  the  hearts  of  the  French  soldiers  in  Montreal 
were  turned  to  water  in  their  hreasts,  and  that  New  France 
seemed  stricken  with  a  helpless  horror.  Then,  just  in  time 
for  the  revival  of  French  prestige  and  the  safety  of  French 
eettlers  everywhere,  there  came  back  the  greatest  of  early 
French  governors,  the  wise  and  gallant,  though  merciless, 
De  Frontenac. 

He  decided  to  strike  at  the  Iroquois  through  the  English. 
Three  expeditions  were  secretly  arranged  from  Quebec,  Three 
Rivers,  and  Montreal,  and,  as  secretly,  they  marched  upon 
Schenectady  in  New  York,  Salmon  Falls  in  Maine,  and  an- 
other point.  Friendly  Indians  were  largely  employed  in 
these  successful  expeditions  and  Indian  methods  of  slaughter 
were  followed.  For  a  time  afterward  the  Iroquois  were 
held  in  order  by  these  successes  against  their  English  allies 
and  by  the  evidences  of  courage  and  statecraft  in  Frontenac 
which  ihey  had  been  quick  to  discover  and  appreciate  dur- 
ing his  preceding  government.  In  1692  occurred  one  of 
those  incidents  which  shed  a  ray  of  light  athwart  a  gloomy 
record  of  bloodshed  and  barbarism.  It  was  a  bright  summer 
day  at  the  little  Fort  of  Vercheres,  and  its  only  occupants 
were  Madeleine,  the  Seigneur's  daughter  (a  girl  of  fourteen 
years),  two  soldiers,  two  boys,  and  some  women.  The  time 
was  supposed  to  be  one  of  peace  and  the  men  were  away  at 
work  in  the  fields.  Suddenly  a  large  party  of  Indians  ap- 
peared on  the  scene.  The  gates  were  shut  and  the  terrified 
inmates  calmed  by  the  little  maiden.  She  at  once  took  com- 
mand, cannon  were  shotted  and  fired  by  her  orders,  and  the 
tiny  garrison  placed  so  as  to  continue  their  use  to  best  ad- 
vantage. For  a  week  the  heroine  of  Vercheres — as  history 
justly  terms  her — held  the  place  with  increasing  vigilance 
against  repeated  Iroquois  attacks,  and  until  the  inmates  were 
at  last  saved  by  the  appearance  of  French  soldiers. 

The  year  after  this,  Frontenac  led  a  not  very  successful 
expedition  against  the  Mohawks,  and,  in  1696,  though  now 


<^ 


THE  STORY  OF   THE   DOMINION 


old  and  somewhat  feeble,  he  was  carried  in  an  armchair 
through  the  vast  wilderness  of  water  and  forest  at  the  head 
of  twenty-two  hundred  men  to  another  attack  on  this  re- 
doubtable tribe.  The  Iroquois  burned  their  towns  and  some 
were  burned  for  them,  while  much  food  was  destroyed  and 
famine  in  the  future  made  inevitable.  But  little  else  was 
done  except  the  capture  of  some  chiefs  who  were  taken  back 
as  hostages.  The  Iroquois  had  now  for  nearly  twenty  years 
been  in  formal  alliance  >vith  the  English  at  New  York,  and 
under  the  protection  of  the  English  Government.  Year  by 
year  the  naturally  warlike  spirit  of  all  the  tribes  had  been 
fanned  by  the  European  rivals  until  their  merciless  dispo- 
sition and  indifference  to  death  had  flamed  up  in  the  mas- 
sacre of  Lachine,  on  the  one  side,  and  that  of  Schenectady 
on  the  other.  Yet  they  were  cunning  enough  not  to  permit 
the  absolute  destruction  of  the  French.  They  were  shrewd 
enough  to  know  that  if  the  English  were  entirely  triumphant 
with,  or  without,  their  aid,  the  result  would  be  equally  dan- 
gerous to  their  own  power.  In  1685,  during  La  Barre's 
incapable  rule,  and  as  a  result  of  his  foolish  strategy,  they 
at  one  time  had  the  French  colonies  at  the  mercy  of  a  united 
attack.  Yet  they  seem  to  have  deliberately  refrained.  Again, 
during  the  European  War  of  the  Spanish  Succession  the 
English  and  Indian  allies  appeared  once  more  to  have  the 
game  in  their  hands  when  the  Iroquois  held  back  at  a  vital 
moment,  and  failure  followed. 

THE  EISrOLISH   COLONISTS  AND  THE  INDIAN 

Thus  the  struggle  went  on  and  spread  its  complex  course 
over  the  greater  part  of  the  continent.  In  the  history  of 
Canada  the  Indians  continued  to  take  an  important  but  very 
varied  part  up  to  the  War  of  1812.  From  the  days  of 
Frontenac  they  fought  on  one  side  or  the  other,  on  behalf 
of  the  English  or  the  French.  Broadly  speaking  the  Iro- 
quois stood  by  the  former  through  thick  and  thin,  while  the 
bulk  of  the  other  tribes  supported  the  authorities  at  Quebec. 
In  Washington's  expedition  against  Fort  Duquesne,  in  Brad- 


THE  INDIANS   OF  EARLY   CANADA 


63 


rmchair 
;he  head 
this  re- 
nd some 
>yed  and 
else  was 
ken  back 
ity  years 
ork,  and 
Year  by 
bad  been 
jss  dispo- 
the  mas- 
lenectady 
to  permit 
•e  shrewd 
iumphant 
lally  dan- 
a  Barre's 
egy,  they 

a  united 
i.  Again, 
ission  the 

have  the 
at  a  vital 


ex  course 
listory  of 
but  very 

days  of 
on  behalf 

the  Iro- 
while  the 
t  Quebec. 

in  Brad- 


I 


dock's  defeat  and  in  Johnson's  attack  upon  Crown  Point,  in 
the  campaign  of  Montcalm  against  Fort  William  Henry, 
they  took  an  important  and  characteristic  part.  In  Acadie, 
during  the  mutations  of  French  and  English  struggle,  they 
were  never  numerous  enough  to  hold  any  considerable  place 
as  combatants,  but  in  cutting  off  isolated  settlers  from  time 
to  time  were  quite  sufficiently  successful.  During  the  mid- 
dle of  the  eighteenth  century,  when  Halifax  had  just  been 
founded  and  the  English  were  trying  to  conciliate  the  French 
inhabitants,  the  Mic-macs  of  Nova  Scotia — as  Acadie  was 
now  called — fell  largely  under  the  malignant  influence  of  a 
priest  named  Le  Loutre.  He  was  a  merciless  and  tireless 
supporter  of  the  French  regime  at  Quebec,  honest  with  the 
flame  of  a  fierce  and  cruel  patriotism,  but  devoid  of  any 
real  spirit  of  Christianity  and  honor.  Under  his  control  the 
Mic-macs  became  a  veritable  thorn  in  the  side  of  the  En- 
glish, a  source  of  constant  outrage  and  murder.  Some  others 
tribes  stood  by  the  latter,  reprisals  naturally  followed,  and, 
for  years  before  the  final  fall  of  Quebec,  the  shameful  spec- 
tacle was  seen  of  Indians  struggling  for  scalps  in  order  to 
obtain  a  French  or  English  bounty.  '         ' 

With  the  victory  of  Wolfe  came  cessation  in  the  strife  of 
centuries  between  the  European  rivals,  but  with  it  also  came 
a  last  despairing  Indian  effort  to  hold  their  own  against  the 
onward  sweep  of  English  population  and  power.  Pontiac, 
chief  of  the  Ottawas,  had  for  some  years  before  the  signing 
of  the  Treaty  of  Paris  been  consolidating  and  increasing 
his  strength.  He  had  steadily  stretched  his  influence  over 
the  Ottigamies,  the  Huron  remnant  which  had  for  half  a 
century  been  slowly  growing  in  numbers,  the  Sacs,  Potta- 
wattamies,  Ojibbiways,  Wyandottes  and  other  tribal  divisions 
of  the  Canadian  region.  He  had  spread  the  spell  of  his  per- 
sonality down  the  centre  of  the  continent  to  the  far  frontiers 
of  Virginia  and  over  the  fiery  Delawares  and  Shawanees. 
He  had  even  detached  the  Senecas  from  their  traditional 
and  close  alliance  with  the  Five  Nations,  or  Iroquois.  His 
subtlety  of  insight  enabled  him  to  see  clearly  that,  with  the 


I 


54 


THE   STORY   OF   THE   DOMINION 


final  success  of  the  English,  the  power  of  the  Indian  had 
practically  passed.  His  eloquence  and  force  of  character 
enabled  him  to  bind  the  tribes  together  in  a  proposed  on- 
slaught upon  the  advancing  white  man.  •     -    «>'  "     '^; 

Circumstances  played  into  his  hands  and  he  was  able  to 
point  out  that  no  more  appeals  were  made  to  Indian  assist- 
ance and  Indian  pride;  that  no  more  gifts  were  bestowed 
upon  their  people  or  courtesies  showered  upon  their  envoys. 
Policy  no  longer  made  their  alliance  necessary,  while  recol- 
lections of  half  a  century  of  barbarous  warfare  made  the 
Colonial  attitude  one  of  contempt  and  natural  aversion. 
Hence  his  scheme  to  scourge  the  English  palefaces  into  the 
sea  before  his  own  people  should  be  swept  away  into  the 
unknown  west  by  the  increasing  numbers  of  their  enemy. 
Encouraged  secretly  by  French  fur-traders,  who  told  him 
that  help  was  coming  from  France,  and  by  New  Orleans 
merchants  who  felt  the  competition  of  the  English,  he  laid 
his  plans,  and  in  May,  1763,  the  whole  western  frontier 
was  a  blaze  of  savage  warfare.  Detroit  was  closely  besieged, 
after  the  failure  of  an  attempt  to  surprise  it,  a  detachment 
of  troops  from  Niagara  was  cut  to  pieces,  Sandusky,  Micbili- 
mackinac,  and  other  places  were  taken  and  destroyed,  while 
the  frontiers  of  Pennsylvania,  Maryland,  and  Virginia  flamed 
with  the  light  of  burning  villages  and  echoed  to  the  cries 
of  slaughtered  settlers.  Campaigns  against  the  Indians  fol- 
lowed under  Colonels  Bouquet  and  Bradstreet  with  varying 
success,  and  the  war  dragged  on  until  1766,  when  Sir  Wil- 
liam Johnson  finally  forced  the  submission  of  Pontiac. 
This  ended  the  struggle,  and  a  year  later  the  really  great 
leader  of  his  people  was  killed  in  some  private  broil. 

THEYENDANECEA    AND    TECUMSEH 

In  the  years  which  followed,  Sir  William  Johnson,  as 
English  Superintendent  of  Indian  Affairs  in  the  Colonies, 
obtained  a  vast  influence  over  the  savages  and  especially 
over  the  Iroquois  of  New  York.  When  the  Revolution 
broke  out  he  espoused  the  Royal  cause  and  faithfully  did 


1 


THE   INDIANS   OF   EARLY   CANADA 


55 


iian  had 
jharacter 
)08ed  on- 

19  able  to 
ian  assist- 
bestowed 
ir  envoys, 
bile  recol- 
made  the 
aversion. 
39  into  the 
J  into  the 
nr  enemy. 
>  told  him 
}W  Orleans 
sh,  he  laid 
•n  frontier 
y  besieged, 
detachment 
cy,  Micbili- 
oyed,  while 
rinia  flamed 
;o  the  cries 
^ndiang  fol- 
ith  varying 
en  Sir  Wil- 
of    Pontiac. 
really  great 
)roil. 


Johnson,  as 
le  Colonies, 
especially 
Kevolution 
ithfuUy  did 


'"ft- 
'i 

i 


I 


the  Indians  join  in  fighting  for  it  under  the  leadership  of 
Theyendanegea — Captain  Joseph  Brant.  This  chieftain  was 
another  leader  of  the  type  of  Pontiac,  but  without  his  sav- 
agery of  temperament,  and  with  some  of  the  trained  quali- 
ties of  civilization.  Able,  honorable,  and  courageous,  he 
rendered  great  service  against  the  Continental  forces.  When 
the  end  came  he  led  the  bulk  of  the  Iroquois  Loyalists  from 
their  historic  homes  and  comfortable  farms  to  the  banks  of 
the  Thames  in  Upper  Canada,  and  there  they  were  supplied 
with  land  grants  by  the  King,  and  settled  dov/n  to  a  life 
which  was  unbroken  by  war  or  strife  until  the  days  of  18^2. 
Then,  once  more,  they  took  up  arms  under  Tecumseh,  and 
revived  the  old  glories  of  their  race  without  the  cruelties 
and  savageries  which  had  cast  so  black  a  shadow  over  its 
sombre  history. 

Both  in  the  years  of  the  Revolution  and  in  the  War  of 
1812  a  few  Indians  fought  with  the  Americans;*  but  they 
were  never  numerous  despite  the  bounties  offered  by  Con- 
gress. Their  aid  was  publicly  sought  by  Montgomery  during 
his  invasion  of  Canada,  and  Congress  passed  a  Resolution 
approving  the  project  to  raise  2,000  Indians  for  this  particu- 
lar service.  They  do  not  seem,  however,  to  have  worked 
well  with  the  Americans  at  any  time,  and  to  have,  indeed, 
retained  their  rancor  against  this  branch  of  the  palefaces 
long  after  the  Iroquois  had  buried  the  hatchet  and  discarded 
their  hatred  against  the  French. 

The  Indian  was  a  natural  monarchist,  a  born  believer  in 
aristocracy,  and  it  is  probable  that  the  English  system,  as 
it  evolved  to  the  north  of  the  Great  Lakes,  was  far  more 
suited  to  his  tastes  and  inclinations  than  the  democracy  of 
the  new  Republic.  He  saw  and  felt  the  forms  of  British 
institutions,  liked  the  principle  of  loyalty  to  a  great  king  or 
chief,  and  also  admired,  as  time  went  on,  the  strength  of 
British  love  for  law  and  order  and  for  justice  between 
different  races.    His  day  of  power  had  gone,  it  is  true,  but 

*  See  Washington's  Address  to  Congress  on  April  19,  1716. 


at 


THE   STORY   OF   THE   DOMINION 


he  all  the  more  appreciated  kindness  and  just  treatment, 
and,  during  the  century  which  followed,  Canada  has  no 
prouder  or  more  satisfactory  page  in  her  history  than  the 
treatment  of  her  Indian  wards  and  their  immunity  from 
strife  and  bloodshed  and  corrupt  government.       .•  j 


CHAPTER    III 


THE  JESUIT  MISSION 8  AND  PIONEER   CHRISTIANITY 

THE  e :traordinary  army  of  men  who  belong  in  suc- 
cessive centuries  to  the  Society  of  Jesus  possess 
in  their  annals  of  mingled  power  and  privation, 
of  greatness  and  meanness,  of  fanaticism  and  finesse,  no 
more  interesting  record  than  that  embodied  in  those  "Jesuit 
Relations"  which  are  so  eloquently  descriptive  of  their  pro- 
longed effort  to  evangelize  the  savages  of  the  one-time  Cana- 
dian wilderness. 

PIONEERS    OF    EMPIRE    IN    NEW    FRANCE 

Whatever  story  may  yet  leap  to  light  for  good  or  ill  in 
the  past  pages  of  this  great  Order,  nothing  but  honor  sur- 
rounds the  work  of  the  Jesuit  pioneers  in  British  America. 
Armed  with  nothing  but  the  crucifix  and  wrapped  in  a 
mantle  of  faith  and  Christian  enthusiasm  which  made  them 
dare  everything  and  fear  neither  torture,  nor  privation,  nor 
deathj,  they  tramped  through  the  lonely  aisles  of  the  forest, 
wandered  amid  swamps  and  the  haunts  of  wild  beasts,  lived 
in  the  smoke-blackened  atmosphere  of  dirty  huts,  nursed  and 
prayed  with  the  ignorant  and  helpless  victims  of  contagious 
disease,  and  preached  to  threatening  tribes  controlled  by  the 
ignorant  "Medicine  men,"  who  saw  their  supremacy  men- 
aced by  these  new  doctrines  of  peace  and  charity  and  good- 
will. 

During  the  seventeenth  century,  while  their  fellow  priests, 
with  varying  degrees  of  success  and  failure,  of  Christian 


■i? 


JESUIT  MISSIONS  AND  PIONEER  CHRISTIANITY        57 


tment, 
laa  no 
an  the 
f  from 


JITY 

in  suc- 
possesa 
rivation, 
esse,  no 
;  "Jesuit 
heir  pro- 
ae  Cana- 


or  ill  in 
onor  sur- 
Araerica. 
)ed  in  a 
ide  them 
ition,  nor 
le  forest, 
.ats,  lived 
irsed  and 
ontagioua 
ed  by  the 
acy  men- 
md  good- 

)W  priests, 
Christian 


work  and  secular  negotiation,  were  extending  the  power  of 
the  Church  of  Rome  in  India  and  the  Moluccas,  in  Cliina 
and  Japan,  in  Brazil  and  Paraguay,  devoted  missionaries  of 
thai/  remarkable  organization  were  winning  over  to  Christi- 
anity the  Huron  Indiana  in  what  is  now  the  Province  of 
Ontario.  In  1626,  Jean  de  Brebeuf  founded  a  mission  on 
tire  forest-clad  shores  of  the  Georgian  Bay.  In  1641,  Fathera 
Joguea  and  Raymbault  preached  to  great  Indian  audiences 
beside  the  rapids  of  the  Sault  Ste.  Marie  as  that  little  river 
rushes  to  connect  the  great  waters  of  Superior  and  Huron. 
Everywhere  throughout  a  still  wider  region  of  forest  and 
wilderness  these  and  other  pioneers  of  religion  preached 
and  suffered  and  struggled  with  the  forces  of  nature,  and 
of  native  barbarism,  or  died  for  the  faith  that  was  in  them. 

WONDERFUL  COUBAGE  AND  FAITH 

With  breviary  and  crucifix  they  wandered  afar  from  even 
the  ultimately  converted  Hurons  and  the  implacable  Iro- 
quois. From  the  wave-beaten  shores  of  Nova  Scotia  to  the 
prairies  of  the  unknown  west,  from  the  region  of  Hudson's 
Bay  to  the  mouth  of  the  Mississippi,  they  passed  in  a  suc- 
cession of  black-robed  figures.  Paddling  in  bark-canoes 
upon  rivers  and  lakes  of  unexplored  size  and  character; 
toiling  over  rugged  portages  or  through  forests  without 
seeming  end  or  limit;  sleeping  on  rocka  and  moss,  or  taking 
refuge  from  the  bitter  cold  of  winter  in  the  still  more  un- 
pleasant smoke  and  dirt  of  an  Indian  wigwam;  dependent 
for  subsistence  upon  the  scarce  quality  of  savage  charity  or 
the  acorns  and  nuts  and  wild  growth  of  the  forest,  they  per- 
severed in  their  mission  "for  the  glory  of  God,"  for  the  ad- 
vancement of  their  Order  and  of  New  France,  until,  as 
Bancroft,  the  American  historian,  puts  it,  "not  a  cape  was 
turned,  not  a  river  was  entered  but  a  Jesuit  led  the  way." 

Meanwhile,  in  the  more  limited  sphere  within  which  rested 
the  wigwams  of  the  Hurona  and  around  which  beat  the  ever- 
present  rage  of  their  inexorable  enemies,  the  Iroquois,  success 
came  to  the  missionaries  in  the  way  which  they  loved  best. 


58 


TBE  STORY  OF   THE  DOMINION 


What  mattered  it  to  them  in  the  preliminary  effort  to 
tame  the  Huron  nature,  or  in  the  later  conflicts  with  the 
hereditary  foes  of  the  tribe,  if  priest  after  priest  dropped 
from  the  ranks  into  the  arms  of  a  martyred  death  'i  Daniel 
Brebeuf,  Lallemant,  Gamier,  Garreau,  Buteux,  Jogues,  and 
Chabanet,  laid  down  their  lives  after  suffering  tortures  be- 
side the  reality  of  which  the  most  vivid  imagination  would 
pale.  Goupil,  Brule,  and  Lalande  were  some  of  the  lay  labor- 
ers \.i.o  also  earned  the  crown  of  a  violent  death;  while  the 
sufferings  of  Chatelaine,  Chaumont,  Couture,  and  many 
others  would  make  a  record  too  painful  for  summarized 
treatment.  The  "Jesuit  Relations,"  written  by  many  of 
these  Jesuit  Fathers,  in  different  languages  and  under  varied 
conditions  of  suffering  to  the  authorities  in  Quebec,  or  at 
Rome,  present  a  picture  rarely  if  ever  equaled  in  the  an- 
nals of  privation  and  perseverance. 

The  tragic  story  of  Father  Jogues  is  one  of  intense  in- 
terest. Coming  from  Quebec  in  1642  with  supplies  for  the 
mission,  he  and  his  companions  were  captured  by  the  Iro- 
quois on  Lake  St.  Peter.  The  gentle,  refined,  and  cultured 
priest  was  submitted  to  every  indignity  and  torture  that  his 
captors  could  think  of  while  they  dragged  him  in  triumph 
from  town  to  town.  His  companions  did  not  survive  the 
ordeal  of  suffering  or  the  fiery  stake,  but  eventually  the  most 
delicate  of  them  all,  with  mangled  and  bleeding  body,  was 
allowed  to  escape  into  what  seemed  the  certain  death  of 
the  wintry  woods.  By  some  miracle  of  fortime  or  of  Provi- 
dence he  escaped  to  the  Dutch  at  far-away  Fort  Orange 
and  was  thence  sent  home  to  France.  But,  despite  the  hero 
worship  of  a  Court  and  mpmor^ea  of  untold  suffering,  he  took 
the  first  vessel  in  t'  rt'  or  New  France  and  this  time 
actually  end'^  vo>'  i  a  mission  among  his  Iroquois 

torturers.    '.       ami  de       came  to  him  in  1644.    Almost 

exactly  simil;  was  ^  e  devotion  and  self-sacrifice  of  Father 
Bressani,  an  Italian  i  osuit.  Captured  as  was  Jogues,  scarred, 
scourged,  mangled,  burned  and  othe^-^se  tortured,  he  lived 
to  see  hungry  dogs  feeding  off  his  n;     d  body,  and  to  write 


\  { 


JESUIT  MISSIONS  AND  PIONEER  CHRISTIANITY      59 


iffort  to 
nth  the 
dropped 
Daniel 
ues,  and 
ures  be- 
n  would 
ay  labor- 
vhWe  the 
id  many 
amarized 
many  of 
er  varied 
ec,  or  at 
Q  the  an- 

itense  in- 
58  for  the 
the  Iro- 
i  cultured 
e  that  his 
triumph 
irvive  the 
the  most 
jody,  waa 
death  of 
of  Provi- 
t  Orange 
the  hero 
ig,  he  took 
this  time 
s  Iroquois 
Almost 
of  Father 
!8,  scarred, 
[,  he  lived 
d  to  write 


the  words,  "I  could  not  have  believed  that  a  man  was  so  hard 
to  kill."*  To  the  General  of  the  Order  in  Rome  to  whom  this 
was  addressed  ho  added  the  statement  that  it  was  written 
in  ink  made  of  gunpowder  and  water,  and  was  soiled  because 
he  had  only  one  finger  of  his  right  hand  left  entire  and  could 
not  prevent  the  blood  from  his  still  open  wounds  staining 
tho  paper.  Yet  he  lived  to  be  rescued,  to  be  carried  home 
to  Franco,  and  to  again  return  to  the  scene  of  his  suffering 
and  sorrow. 

SUCCESS  WITH   THE   HURONS 

Such  a  spirit  compelled  success.  In  1634,  Fathers  Bre- 
beuf  and  Davoust,  after  a  weary  and  painful  journey  of  nine 
hundred  miles,  with  limbs  scarred  by  rocks,  and  bodies  bitten 
and  bruised  and  torn  and  worn,  reached  the  Huron  settle- 
ments, not  far  from  the  Lake  Simcoe  of  to-day  and  estab- 
lished the  mission  for  which  they  had  willingly  endured  so 
much.  "Amid  it  all,"  wrote  Brebeuf,  "my  soul  enjoyed  a 
sublime  contentment,  knowing  that  all  I  suffered  was  for 
God."  And  it  really  seemed  as  if  the  blood  of  the  martyrs 
was  to  be  the  seed  of  the  Church.  Gradually  the  Huron 
tribes  became  converted,  and  the  altar  which  was  at  first, 
and  for  long,  raised  in  the  aisles  of  the  forest  began  to  find 
a  place  within  the  palisades  of  the  native  villages. 

The  story  of  this  success  is  one  full  of  tragic  incidents 
crowned  with  the  most  tragic  of  all  ends.  For  fifteen  years 
Brebeuf  and  Lallemant,  Daniel  and  other  devoted  priests, 
labored  without  ceasing  to  convert  the  savages  among  villages 
which  dotted  the  fertile  region  between  Georgian  Bay  and 
Lake  Simcoe  wherever  an  opening  in  the  dense  forest  growth 
allowed  a  settlement,  with  its  huts  and  protective  palisades^ 
to  be  placed.  The  priests  shared  every  hardship  of  a  life 
to  which  custom  and  tradition  had  inured  the  Indian,  with- 
out complaint  and  with  apparent  pleasure.     Despite  dislike 


*  The  Rev.  Dr.  W.  H.  Withrow  in  "Canada:  An  Encyclopaedia  of  the 
Country,"  Volume  II.,  page  444. 


M 


THE   STORY    OF    THE   DOMINION 


and  threats  and  insult  they  would  enter  the  dwellings  of 
the  Huron  braves  and  administer  the  rite  of  baptism  to  in- 
fants whom  they  thus  believed  to  be  changed  "from  little 
savages  to  little  angels."  Of  a  thousand  such  ceremonies, 
performed  in  1639,  it  is  stated  that  all  but  twenty  were  done 
in  immediate  danger  of  death.  Such  courage,  coupled  with 
sympathy  in  sickness,  tenderness  to  the  dying,  evident  love 
for  the  children,  care  for  the  wounded,  inevitably  had  its 
eflfect  in  time.  Slowly  converts  came  in,  gradually  supersti- 
tious rites  were  discontinued,  steadily  the  worn  cassock  and 
wasted  form  of  the  missionary  came  to  be  an  endurable,  and 
then  a  welcome,  guest.  :  :    .  -       ,      ; 

The  influence  of  these  men  grew  so  great  as  the  years 
passed  slowly  on  as  to  seem  a  marvel  in  the  eyes  of  the  mod- 
ern observer.  Savage  natures  were  actually  changed  so  as 
to  be  unrecognizable.  Human  tenderness  was  revived  and 
lawless  passions  restrained;  Christian  decorations  and  devo- 
tions took  the  place  of  wild  Pagan  niummeries;  most  won- 
derful of  all,  the  Huron  learned  to  pray  for  his  bitter  and 
hereditary  enemy,  the  Iroquois.  A  transformation  such  as 
this  seems  little  short  of  miraculous,  and  it  was  natural 
that  an  already  boundless  missionary  zeal  should  l>e  strength- 
ened by  it — if  that  were  possible.  Recruits  came  froir 
France  and  converted  Indians  swelled  the  ranks  of  Christian 
labor.  In  almost  every  Huron  village  a  mission  was  estab- 
lished, and,  in  place  of  a  few  fearful,  doubtful  converts  meet- 
ing and  worshiping  in  the  shadow  of  the  forest,  there  were 
organized  services  held,  and  even  religious  stinictures  erected, 
at  St.  Michael,  St.  Joseph,  St.  Jean,  St.  Louis,  St.  Denys, 
St.  Antoine,  St.  Charles,  St.  Ignace,  Ste.  Therese,  Ste.  Marie, 
and  many  another  place  called  after  some  Saint  or  old-world 
shrine  of  the  faith. 

The  last-named  was  perhaps  the  most  important,  and  was 
established,  in  1640,  on  the  banks  of  a  small  stream  not  far 
from  the  present  town  of  Penetanguishone.  It  was  a  fort 
as  well  as  a  mission,  and  the  outline  of  the  masonry  and  pal- 
isaded walls  may  still  be  seen,  after  the  lapse  of  two  centuries 


»-V 


JESUIT  MISSIONS  AND  PIONEER  CHRISTIANITY      61 


ings  of 
n  to  in- 
m  little 
jmonies, 
ere  done 
led  with 
lent  love 
had  its 
supersti- 
sock  and 
able,  and 

the  years 
the  mod- 
ged  so  as 
irived  and 
and  devo- 
most  won- 
bitter  and 
,n  such  as 
IS  natural 
strength- 
ame  froir 
'  Christian 
was  estab- 
verts  meet- 
there  were 
res  erected, 
St.  Denys, 
Ste.  Marie, 
r  old-world 

it,  and  was 
iam  not  far 
was  a  fort 
ry  and  pal- 
vo  centuries 


and  a  half.  Within  these  defences  were  a  church,  a  mission 
residence,  a  kitchen,  and  a  refectory.  Immediately  outside 
of  them  were  a  large  building  for  Indian  guests,  a  hospital 
for  the  sick,  and  a  cemetery  for  the  dead.  Agriculture  was 
carefully  taught  and  earnestly  encouraged,  while  the  Fathers 
not  only  themselves  used  spade  and  mattock,  but  raised  fowls, 
swine,  and  cattle.  Prosperity  came  to  the  villages ;  comfort 
and  plentiful  supplies  of  food,  in  winter  as  well  as  in  sum- 
mer, resulted  from  the  foresight  of  the  missionaries ;  the  ele- 
ments of  a  very  real  and  kindly  civilization  became  visible. 

Ij nf ortunately,  however,  though  it  must  be  said  naturally, 
the  military  spirit  of  the  Hurons  was  undermined  in  this 
process.  The  need  of  lood  no  longer  spurred  them  to  the 
distant  hunt  and  possible  conflict ;  the  lust  for  vengeance  no 
longer  moved  them  to  practice  cruelties  and  physical  austeri- 
ties which  developed  activity  and  determination  and  strength. 
Thev  grew  averse  to  war,  afraid  of  the  Iroquois,  anxious  for 
peace,  and,  therefore,  natural  and  easy  victims  to  the  im- 
placable hate  of  an  enemy  who  knew  no  mercy  and  despised 
the  qualities  which  Christianity  aimed  to  cultivate.  They 
were  still  subject  to  desultory  raids  from  wandering  bands 
of  the  enemy,  and  many  were  the  scalps  taken  from  unwary 
Hurons  during  this  decade  of  development.  But  there  had 
been  no  combined  onslaught,  and,  up  to  1648,  hope  without 
any  real  confidence  was  the  prevailing  feeling  among  the  vil- 
Irges.  In  that  year,  while  the  Iroquois  were  haunting  the 
shadow  of  every  tree  and  the  fortifications  of  every  white 
settlement  along  the  St.  Lawrence  in  search  of  victims,  a 
party  of  Huron  braves  from  St.  Joseph  descended  the  Ot- 
tawa and  the  greater  river  with  a  large  stock  of  furs  for 
sale  to  the  French.  At  Three  Rivers  they  were  attacked, 
but  beat  their  assailants  back. 

It  was,  however,  the  beginning  of  the  end.  An  Iroquois 
band  had  meanwhile  swept  up  the  country  to  St.  Joseph, 
broken  •-'.own  the  palisades,  killed  Father  Daniel  at  the  altar 
of  his  church,  taken  700  prisoners,  and  left  the  little  town 
a  smoking  ruin.     In  the  following  year  the  mandate  went 


62 


THE   STORY   OF   THE   DOMINION 


forth  that  the  Huron  nation  was  to  be  destroyed.  Twelve 
hundred  warriors  entered  the  rich  and  populated  country 
and  left  it  a  desert.  The  villages  were  burned,  or  taken  by 
storm  and  then  destroyed.  Priests  and  people,  alike,  were 
slaughtered  or  taken  prisoners  and  preserved  for  a  worse 
fate.  The  "Jesuit  Relations"  record  a  measure  of  suffering 
wreaked  upon  some  of  the  Jesuit  Fathers  which  it  seems 
impossible  for  men  to  have  endured.  At  St.  Louis,  Brebeuf 
and  Lallemant,  disdaining  to  fly,  stood  by  the  warriors  of  the 
settlement  and  were  eventually  captured.  Enraged,  and  yet 
admiring  their  courage,  the  savages  exhausted  every  re- 
source of  experienced  ingenuity  to  procure  from  them  some 
sign  of  suffering.  Scalping,  pouring  boiling  oil  upon  their 
heads,  tearing  off  the  nails  from  their  hands,  lacerating  their 
flesh,  cutting  the  living  bodies  almost  to  pieces,  burning  them 
with  red-hot  irons — all  were  useless  in  face  of  a  firmness  and 
faith  which  impelled  them  to  die  as  became  the  creed  they 
loved  when  in  presence  of  enemies  who,  above  all  things,  ad- 
mired the  stoical  endurance  of  pain.  "We  can  not  hope," 
wrote  Ragueneau  in  the  "Relations,"  of  Pere  Daniel,  his 
brother  in  toil  and  tribulation,  "but  to  follow  him  in  the 
burning  path  which  he  had  trod,  but  we  will  gladly  suffer 
for  the  glory  of  the  Master  whom  we  serve." 

The  mission  at  Ste.  Marie  was  strong  enough  to  resist  the 
onslaught  of  the  foe,  and  it  survived.  But,  alone  in  a  land 
which  had  become  a  desert,  with  the  scattered  remnant  of  its 
flock  fleeing  in  isolated  groups  over  the  country  from  Lake 
Huron  to  the  St.  Lawrence  and  Quebec,  it  was  of  little  ser- 
vice, and,  finally,  after  moving  to  an  island  in  Georgian  Bay, 
where  the  Iroquois  followed  and  famine  faced  the  mission, 
the  last  centre  of  Christianity  in  this  part  of  the  wilderness 
was  compelled  to  also  seek  refuge  in  the  direction  of  Quebec. 
Thus  closed  one  splendid  page  in  the  history  of  the  Society 
of  Jesus.  Another,  though  less  conspicuous  one,  was  im- 
mediately turned  over.  The  Jesuits  had  long  been  anxious 
to  found  a  mission  among  the  Iroquois  themselves.  They 
believed  that  doing  so  would  be  a  service  to  the  State  as  well 


^1 


JESUIT  MISSIONS  AND  PIONEER  CHRISTIANITY      63 


Twelve 

country 
taken  by 
ike,  -were 

a  worse 
suffering 

it  seems 
,  Brebeuf 
ors  of  the 
1,  and  yet 
every   re- 
hem  some 
ipon  their 
iting  their 
ning  them 
mness  and 
creed  they 
things,  ad- 
not  hope," 
)aniel,  his 
lim  in  the 
idly  suffer 

)  resist  the 
in  a  land 
nant  of  its 
from  Lake 
f  little  ser- 
rgian  Bay, 
le  mission, 
wilderness 
of  Quebec, 
the  Society 
was  im- 
en  anxious 
es.      They 
;ate  as  well 


aa  to  the  Church,  and  that  they  might  be  able  in  time  to 
ameliorate  and  soften  the  fierceness  of  the  savage  character. 

A  few  years  after  the  extirpation  of  the  Hurons  permis- 
sion was  given,  during  a  brief  period  of  peace,  and  Fathers 
Le  Moyne,  Chaumont,  and  Dablon  established  a  mission  in 
the  country  of  the  Onondagas,  and  went  to  work  with  a  thou- 
sand knives  itching  for  their  scalps  and  the  knowledge  that 
every  moment  might  be  their  last.  Finally,  they  discov- 
ered the  threads  of  a  plot  for  their  destruction,  the  simul- 
taneous rising  of  the  Five  Nations,  and  the  sweeping  of  the 
French  into  the  St.  Lawrence.  The  little  band  of  white  men 
escaped  by  a  clever  rtise,  which  looked  to  the  Indians  like  a 
miracle;  and  the  most  courageous  attempt  of  the  devoted 
priests  had  failed.  But,  within  ten  years,  they  had  obtained 
a  footing,  and  the  black-robed  figures  passed  to  and  fro  with 
an  immunity  born  of  growing  respect  and  of  increasing  at- 
tention to  their  lessons.  In  various  other  and  distant  direc- 
tions, Jesuits,  Recollets,  and  priests  from  the  Seminary  of 
Quebec  penetrated — often  where  the  most  daring  fur-trader 
feared  to  go.  North  of  Lake  Superior,  and  from  the  Illinois 
to  Lake  Winnipeg,  Jesuit  priests  carved  a  pathway  for 
French  influence  and  Christian  instruction.  At  Sault  Ste. 
Marie  and  at  the  far-away  Michilimackinac  they  established 
missions,  and  everywhere  they  carved  for  their  Order  a  sig- 
nal name  and  fame.  Such  was  the  foundation  of  Roman 
Catholicism  in  Canada. 

Curiously  different,  however,  was  its  effect  upon  the  In- 
dian savages  and  upon  the  French  settlers.  Diverse  indeed 
were  the  results  of  heroism  in  the  wilderness  and  attempted 
government  in  the  Province.  One  influence  made  for  peace, 
the  other  too  often  led  to  discord.  Both,  however,  had  a 
gi'eat  molding  power  in  the  making  of  the  country  among 
either  its  savage  or  its  civilized  peoples.  Up  to  1658  the 
Jesuits  practically  controlled  the  spiritual  affairs  of  the  Col- 
ony, and  their  labors  had,  of  course,  been  largely  of  a  mission- 
ary nature.  There  was  little  ecclesiastical  organizat'oii  and 
no  hierarchy.     But,  in  the  year  named,  Frangois  de  Laval 


64 


THE   STORY    OF   THE   DOMINION 


de  Montmorency,  Abbe  de  Montigny,  in  France,  was  confie- 
crated  Bishop  of  Petrea  and  Vicar- Apostolic  of  New  France. 

THREE    GREAT    ECCLESIASTICS 

From  the  following  year  until  1688,  sliA  from  1692  until 
his  death  in  1708,  this  militant,  laborious,  and  devoted  Prel- 
ate gave  his  whole  energies,  his  entire  wealth  and  life  to 
the  establishment  of  his  Church  and  the  extension  of  her 
influence.  His  high  birth  and  consideral^le  means  were 
sources  of  great  strength  in  those  days,  when  added  to  the 
prestige  of  ecclesiastical  position,  and  these  elements  of 
power  Mgr.  de  Laval  used,  with  all  the  force  of  a  somewhat 
overbearing  spirit  and  a  tremendous  religious  zeal,  to  rule 
the  Colony  for  the  good  of  itself  and  the  Church. 

To  him  the  welfare  of  the  State  was  bound  up  in  the 
progress  of  the  Church,  and  it  was,  therefore,  natural  that 
a  man  of  imperious  character,  in  the  position  of  the  Bishop 
of  Quebec — a  See  to  which  he  was  formally  appointed  in 
1674,  and  which  covered  nearly  the  whole  of  North  America 
— should  enter  into  conflict  at  times  with  the  civil  power. 
With  De  Frontenac,  who  was  a  singularly  strong  character 
in  his  own  sphere,  one  of  these  contests  occurred,  and  resuUed 
in  the  aged  Bishon  going  to  France  in  person  and  winning 
the  King's  favor  for  his  unceasing  effort  '.o  suppress  the 
liquor  traffic  with  the  Indians.  Similar  differences  arose  in 
connection  with  his  policy  of  making  the  Sovereign  Council 
subservient  to  him  rather  than  to  the  Governor.  With  some 
of  the  more  powerful  of  his  clergy  disputes  also  came  as  the 
inevitable  result  of  his  dominant  and  dominating  will.  Like 
his  humbler  predecessors  in  the  Society  of  Jesus,  neither  dis- 
tance, danger,  nor  privation  had  any  terrors  for  him.  From 
the  missions  of  Acadie  to  the  far  valley  of  Lake  Champlain, 
and  the  wild  regions  of  the  Upper  Lakes,  he  traveled  and 
organized  and  inspired  his  priests  and  adherents  with  new 
energy  and  enthusiasm.  At  Quebec  he  founded  the  Grand 
Seminary  in  1663  and  the  Minor  Seminary  five  years  later, 
and  from  those  institutions  there  soon  flowed  a  fresh  stream 


JESUIT  MISSIONS  AND  PIONEER  CHRISTIANITY      66 


ras  conae- 
V  ±>ance. 


692  until 
Dted  Prel- 
id  life  to 
)n  of  her 
sains  were 
led  to  the 
jments  of 
somewhat 
d,  to  rule 

up  in  the 
tural  that 
he  Bishop 
3ointed  in 
1  America 
vil  power, 
character 
id  resulted 
d  winning 
3press  the 
!S  arose  in 
^  Council 
W^ith  some 
ime  as  the 
r'lW.     Like 
leither  dis- 
m.     From 
hamplain, 
iveled  and 
with  new 
tlie  Grand 
rears  later, 
esh  stream 


€ 


of  devoted  prijsts.  By  this  time  a  number  of  strong  and 
growing  religious  institutions  were  strengthening  the  cords 
of  the  Church  in  Montreal  and  Quebec.  They  included  the 
Sulpicians  at  the  former  place,  the  Jesuits  and  Recollets  at 
the  latter;  the  Ursuline  Convent  in  Quebec,  which  had 
braved  so  many  pioneer  perils  under  charge  of  the  venerated 
Mile,  de  la  Peltric  and  Marie  de  I'lncarnation ;  the  Congre- 
gation of  the  Ladies  of  Notre  Dame,  at  Montreal,  under  the 
control  of  Marguerite  Bourgeois;  the  Hotel  Dieu,  built  at 
Quebec,  as  a  gift  from  the  Duchess  d'Aguillon,  and  the  sim- 
ilar institution  in  Montreal  created  by  Mile,  de  ia  Mance 
and  Madame  de  Bouillon.  These  institutions,  under  the 
Bishop's  fostering  care,  or  through  the  intense  militant  spirit 
of  the  heroic  women  in  charge,  had  prospered  greatly,  and 
been  o^  untold  service  to  the  ofttimcs  weary,  sick,  and  de- 
spairing colonists. 

Such  in  brief  was  the  work  and  character  of  the  Father  of 
his  Church  in  New  France.  A  loig  line  of  more  or  less 
able  and  earnest  men  succeeded  him.  Mgr.  Jean  Baptiste 
de  St.  Vallier,  who  spent  immense  sums  founding  and  help- 
ing religious  institutions;  Mgr.  de  Pontbriand,  who  estab- 
lished the  Hospital  of  the  Grey  Nuns  in  Montreal,  with  the 
assistance  of  Mme.  d'Youville,  and  died  just  after  seeing 
the  smoking  ruins  of  his  Cathedral  in  Quebec  as  a  result  of 
the  siege  of  1759 ;  Mgr.  Jean  Oliver  Briand,  who  had  to  face 
the  new  conditions  following  the  English  conquest  and  to 
make  his  office  one  of  diplomacy  and  racial  conciliation,  as 
well  as  of  religious  oversight;  Mgr.  Joseph  Octave  Plessis, 
the  greatest  of  French  Catholic  ecclesiastics  after  the  founder 
of  the  Church  in  Canada,  and  the  most  loyal  and  successful 
of  administrators. 

He  understood  and  studied,  as  no  man  had  previously  done, 
the  causes  of  the  French  overthrow  in  Canada,  and  he  was 
clear-headed  enough  to  appreciate  the  freedom  of  develop- 
ment accorded  under  the  new  regime.  He  fo\mded  collegea 
and  schools,  and  took  a  place  in  the  Legislative  Council  and 
an  active  part  in  its  work,  visited  England  and  Rome  in  1819, 


66 


THE   STORY   OF   THE   DOMINION 


and  finally  succeeded  in  establishing  Quebec  as  a  sort  of  a 
central  See,  with  Suffragans  or  Vicars- Apostolic  at  Kingston 
in  Upper  Canada,  on  the  Red  River  in  the  Far  North,  at 
Montreal,  and  in  Nova  Scotia.  He  died  in  1825,  after  nine- 
teen years  of  an  administration  which  had  revived  the  fruits 
of  Mgr.  de  Laval's  labors,  and  had  extended  his  Church  in 
an  organized  sense  over  much  of  the  vast  region  originally 
covered  by  the  Jesuit  Fathers. 

The  Church,  meanwhile,  did  not  prove  ungrateful  to  Eng- 
land for  the  favors  of  toleration  and  freedom  which  had 
been  conferred  at  the  Conq  est.  In  1775,  Bishop  Briand 
issued  a  Mandement  denouncing  the  "pernicious  design"  of 
the  invaders  under  Montgomery  and  Arnold,  praising  the 
magnanimity  and  kindness  of  the  King  toward  his  French 
subjects,  and  urging  the  defence  of  homes  and  frontiers  and 
religious  interests  against  the  Continental  troops.  During 
the  troubles  preceding  the  War  of  1812,  Mgr.  Plessis  took 
still  stronger  ground,  and,  in  a  long  and  eloquent  Mandement, 
issued  on  September  16,  1807,  and  based  on  the  principle 
of  "Fear  God  and  honor  the  King,"  he  urged  loyalty  to 
Great  Britain,  and  denounced  as  unworthy  the  name  of 
Catholic  or  Canadian  any  individual  who  was  not  ready  to 
take  up  arms  in  opposing  a  possible  American  invasion.  A 
little  later,  when  American  missionaries  began  to  stir  up  the 
people  with  promises  of  what  republican  liberty  would  do 
for  them,  he  issued  a  letter  of  concise  and  stringent  instruc- 
tions to  all  the  Cures  of  his  Diocese,  regarding  the  necessity 
of  inculcating  loyalty.  And,  in  the  result,  the  influence  and 
power  of  the  Church  was  very  plainly  shown  in  1775  and 
1812. 

POWER    AND    PROGEESS 

Meantime,  in  the  part  of  Canada  now  called  Ontario,  and 
which  had  been  watered  by  the  blood  of  the  Jesuits  in  the 
Huron  Missions,  French  settlements  had  gradually  api^eared, 
and,  toward  the  end  of  the  eighteenth  century,  a  number  of 
Scotch  and  Loyalist  colonists.     At  Sandwich,  not  far  from 


1 

La 

3 

pr- 

'• 

in 

pri 

1 

JESUIT  MISSIONS  AND  PIONEER  CHRISTIANITY      67 


>rt  of  a 
ingston 
orth,  at 
er  nine- 
e  fruits 
urch  in 
iginally 

to  Eng- 
ich  had 
Briand 
sign"  of 
sing  the 
I  French 
tiers  and 
During 
ssis  took 
ndement, 
principle 
)yalty  to 
name   of 
ready  to 
sion.     A 
ir  up  the 
\rould  do 
instruc- 
necessity 
lence  and 
775  and 


ario,  and 
ts  in  the 
api^eared, 
umber  of 
far  from 


the  future  city  of  Detroit,  a  number  of  the  French  had 
settled  at  the  time  of  the  Conquest,  and  to  the  banks  of  the 
St.  Lawrence,  in  the  County  of  Glengarry,  there  came,  forty 
years  later,  a  number  of  Catholic  Highlanders.  In  1803, 
they  were  joined  by  Alexander  Macdonell,  the  Father  of  the 
Church  in  Upper  Canada.  Like  his  prototype,  Mgr.  de 
Laval,  and  his  colleague,  Mgr.  Edmund  Burke,  who  went  to 
Nova  Scotia  after  a  brief  stay  at  Sandwich,  Father  Mac- 
donell feared  neither  pain  nor  privation  nor  labor  in  the 
missionary  work  of  the  Church.  Consecrated  Bishop  of  Up- 
per Canada  in  1820,  he  lived  for  nineteen  years  to  preside 
over  the  progress  of  the  Church  in  that  Province  as  he  had 
already  done  in  strenuous  and  unselfish  fashion  over  its 
birtli  and  early  years.  Writing  in  1836  to  Sir  Francis  Bond 
Head,  Governor  of  the  Colony,  he  pointed  with  pride  to  the 
erection  during  his  pioneer  episcopate  of  thirty-three  churches 
and  chapels,  to  the  education  and  training — largely  at  his 
own  expense — of  twenty-two  clergymen,  and  to  the  expendi- 
ture of  £13,000  of  his  own  private  means,  as  well  as  the  col- 
lection of  much  more  from  friends  abroad.  The  following 
extract  is  illustrative  of  these  early  conditions,  and  was  writ- 
ten in  reply  to  attacks  made  upon  him  in  the  Assembly: 

"Upon  entering  my  pastoral  duties  I  had  the  whole  -f <  \  ivce  in  charge, 
and  w&a  without  any  assistance  for  ten  years.  During  fr  t  period  I  had 
to  travel  over  the  country  from  Lake  Superior  to  the  .-'rovince  line  of 
Lower  Canada,  carrying  the  sacred  vestments  sometimes  on  my  back 
and  sometimes  in  Indian  birch  canoes;  living  with  savages,  without  any 
other  shelter  or  comfort  but  their  fires  and  their  furs  and  the  branches 
of  the  trees  aflForded;  crossing  the  great  lakes  and  rivers,  and  even  de- 
scending the  rapids  of  the  St.  Lawrence,  in  their  dangerous  and  wretched 
craft.  Nor  were  the  hardships  which  I  endured  among  the  settlers  and 
immigrants  less  than  those  I  had  to  encounter  among  the  savages  them- 
selves, in  their  miserable  shanties,  exposed  on  all  sides  to  the  weather, 
and  destitute  of  every  comfort." 

During  the  160  years  covered  by  the  arrival  of  Mgr.  de 
Laval  and  the  death  of  Bishop  Macdonell  in  1839,  much 
pr'igress  had  been  made  by  the  Church  of  Rome  elsewhere 
in  the  country.  Far  away  in  the  Northwest,  wandering 
priests  had  ministered  from  time  to  time  to  the  Indians,  but 


m] 


68 


THE   STORY   OF   TEE   DOMINION 


:s .. 


it  was  not  until  the  consecration  of  Father  N.  B.  Provencher, 
in  1818,  as  a  Bishop  and  his  appearance  on  the  banks  of  the 
Red  River,  that  organized  work  commenced  there.  From 
that  time  on  steady  and  successful  missionary  labors  were 
maintained,  amid  tlie  most  severe  hardships,  intense  cold, 
and  every  form  of  privation.  In  the  Maritime  Provinces, 
or  "Aoftdie  the  Fair,"  the  Jesuits  early  appeared  on  the 
scene — the  first  to  arrive  being  the  Rev.  Nicholas  Aubrey, 
who  had  landed  fifty  years  before  Laval  arrived  at  Quebec. 
Fathers  Quentin  and  Du  Thet,  Biard,  and  Masse  were  later 
pioneers.  Then  came  the  RecoUets  and  the  Franciscan 
Fathers,  and,  in  1676,  Father  Petit  became  the  first  Vicar- 
General  of  Acadie.  Under  British  rule.  Father  Edmund 
Burke,  who  had  been  laboring  with  enthusiasm  for  a  num- 
ber of  years,  was,  in  1818,  made  a  Bishop  and  Vicar- Apos- 
tolic of  Nova  Scotia.  During  the  early  years  of  the  century, 
owing  to  large  accessions  of  Catholic  Scotchmen  to  this  popu- 
lation, the  Church  grew  rapidly  in  numbers  and  influence. 
Thus  the  seed  sown  by  the  Jesuits  in  the  soil  of  North  Amer- 
ica began  to  fructify  after  they  had  passed  away,  and  pro- 
duced, in  the  course  of  a  century  and  a  half,  a  strong  Church, 
planted  in  Quebec  among  a  large  and  growing  population, 
and  elsewhere  placed  in  a  position  suited  for  great  future 
development. 

CHAPTER    IV 


THE    LAND    OF   EVANGELINE 


LONGFELLOW  has  immortalized  an  occurrence  in 
Canadian  history  which  was  notable  in  itself  and 
which  will  always  live  in  public  memory.  But  back 
of  that  event  were  a  hundred  and  fifty  years  of  stirring 
Acadian  annals — ^years  of  sorrow  and  suffering,  of  struggle 
and  success.  Before  Champlain  had  founded  Quebec,  or 
Henry  Hudson  discovered  the  great  northern  waters  which 
bear  his  name,  a  French  Huguenot  settlement  was  established 


:a  v 


THE   LAND    OF   EVANGELINE 


69 


ovencher, 
iks  of  the 
).      IVom 
bora  were 
anse  cold, 
Provinces, 
;d  on  the 
a  Aubrey, 
it  Quebec, 
were  later 
Franciscan 
LTst  Vicar- 
r  Edmund 
or  a  num- 
''icar-Apos- 
tie  century, 

this  popu- 
[  influence, 
orth  Amer- 

,  and  pro- 
ng Church, 
population, 
I'eat  future 


iurrence  in 
itself  and 
But  back 
of  stirring 
of  struggle 
Quebec,  or 

aters  which 
e8tabli8he(? 


on  an  island  in  the  mouth  of  the  St.  Croix  River,  as  it  rolls 
do^vn  from  between  the  present  boundary  lines  of  Canada 
and  the  United  States.  In  this  pioneer  and  unsuccessful 
effort  by  the  Sieur  de  Monts  in  1604,  he  had  the  patronage 
of  Henry  IV  of  France ;  and  a  beginning  was  thus  made  to 
the  prolonged  struggle  for  possession  of  what  came  to  be 
called  the  land  of  Acadie,  which  included  within  its  bounds 
the  present  Provinces  of  Nova  Scotia  and  New  Brunswick, 
and  that  part  of  the  State  of  Maine  east  of  the  Kennebec 
River. 

THE    LAND    OF    ACADIE 

It  was,  upon  the  whole,  a  goodly  region,  watered  by  beau- 
tiful rivers  and  innumerable  brooks,  covered  by  splendid  for- 
ests and  possessed  of  a  soft  and  pleasant  summer  climate. 
But  the  Canadian  winter — that  cold,  stern  period  of  snow 
and  ice,  to  which  the  French  always  found  it  so  hard  to  ac- 
commodate their  memories  of  the  mild  weather  of  southern 
Europe — was  sure  to  be  a  source  of  constant  suffering;  and 
not  the  least  so  to  the  pioneer  band  of  settlers  at  the  mouth 
of  the  St.  Croix.  When  the  earliest  buds  and  birds  of 
spring  appeared,  De  Monts  and  Champlain  abandoned  a  sit- 
uation open  to  all  the  frozen  blasts  of  the  ocean  and  the 
river,  and  established  themselves  at  a  place  which  they  termed 
Port  Royal,  and  which,  within  more  modern  days,  has  be- 
come known  as  Annapolis.  At  the  head  of  the  beautiful 
Annapolis  Basin,  sheltered  from  the  sea  by  guardian  senti- 
nels of  rock  and  shielded  from  the  storms  of  land  by  wooded 
hills,  the  site  of  the  new  settlement  was,  in  the  summer  sea- 
son, a  scene  of  sunshine  and  loveliness,  in  winter  a  very 
haven  of  rest  to  the  half-clothed,  inexperienced,  but  light- 
hearted  Frenchmen. 

SUFFERINGS  AND  HARDSHIPS   OF  EARLY  SETTLERS 

The  leaders  of  this  colonization  effort  stand  out  very 
clearly  upon  the  pages  of  Canadian  history.  Pierre  du 
Guast,  Sieur  de  Monts,  was  one  of  those  adventurous  figures 
who  build  much  of  romance  and  attractiveness  into  the  mak- 


I 


to 


THE   STORY   OF   THE   DOMINION 


ing  of  nations.  From  the  French  King  he  had  obtained  a 
grant  of  land  which  might  have  been  made  to  cover  the 
whole  region  from  Montreal  to  the  Philadelphia  of  tho  dis- 
tant future,  and  with  his  two  ships  and  a  crew,  which  in- 
cluded thieves  and  gentlemen  in  about  equal  proportions,  the 
light-hearted  nobleman  of  a  brilliant  Court  had  started  upon 
his  task — one  in  which  Cartier  and  Do  Roberval  and  De  la 
Roche  had  already  failed  to  effect  any  practical  success  and 
had  endured  much  of  privation  and  suffering. 

With  him  were  Champlain- — already  the  central  figure  of 
St.  Lawrence  explorations — and  Jean  de  Biencourt,  Baron 
de  Poutrincourt.  The  latter  was  a  wealthy  and  energetic 
nobleman  of  Picardy,  whose  whole  heart  came  to  be  wrapped 
up  in  the  success  of  the  enterprise.  After  the  first  troubles 
at  St.  Croix  and  the  later  settlement  at  Port  Royal,  Poutrin- 
court paid  a  visit  to  France,  in  which  he  was  later  on  joined 
by  De  Monts,  and  returned  during  the  spring  of  1606,  with 
mechanics  and  laborers  for  the  infant  colony.  With  him 
was  the  merry,  shrewd,  and  scholarly  L'Escarbot,  who  has 
left  behind  such  interesting  records  of  the  events  connected 
with  these  settlements.  One  other  important  personage  con- 
cerned in  early  Acadian  colonization  was  Pontgrave,  a  rich 
Breton  merchant  of  St.  Malo,  who  had  already  shared  in  the 
Champlain  expedition  up  the  St.  Lawrence. 

The  years  that  immediately  followed  were  of  stirring  and 
ever-changing  interest.  Port  Royal  became  the  centre  of 
storm-clouds,  which  reached  in  shadowy  outline  from  Paris 
to  London  and  back  again  to  this  tiny  settlement  on  the  verge 
of  a  vast  continent.  Champlain,  meanwhile,  explored  and 
surveyed  and  schemed,  while  L'Escarbot  looked  after  the 
planting  and  sowing  and  reaping.  De  Monts  continued  in 
Paris  to  try  and  counter  the  plots  of  enemies  and  hold  the 
rights  he  had  been  granted.  The  winter  of  1606-Y  was  the 
famous  occasion  of  Champlain's  "Order  of  a  Good  Time," 
when  the  fifteen  leading  men  of  the  colony  met  in  Poutiin- 
court's  dining-hall  and  reveled  each  day  for  some  hours  in 
good  fellowship  and  good  fare,  and  the  good  cheer  of  a  wit 
which  was  Parisian  in  its  character  and  cleverness.     With 


THB   LAND    OF   EVANQELINB 


71 


ibtained  a 
cover  the 
)f  tho  diB- 
which  in- 
rtions,  the 
irted  upon 
and  De  la 
uccess  and 

il  figure  of 
urt,  Baron 
d  energetic 
be  wrapped 
rst  troubles 
al,  Poutrin- 
3r  on  joined 
1606,  with 
With  him 
ot,  who  has 
ts  connected 
rsonage  con- 
T-ave,  a  rich 
hared  in  the 

stirring  and 
le  centre  of 

from  Paris 
on  the  verge 
ixplored  and 
ed  after  the 
continued  in 
and  hold  the 
06-7  was  the 
Good  Time," 
t  in  Poutrin- 
3me  hours  in 
heer  of  a  wi* 

irness.     With 


the  picturesque  group  of  gentlemen-adventurers  sat  the  Saga- 
more Mcmberton,  bearing  upon  his  shoulders  the  burden  of 
a  hundred  years,  the  responsibility  of  tribal  leadership,  and 
the  reputation  of  sincere  friendship  for  tiie  whites. 

This  jolly  and  prosperous  season,  however,  was  the  calm 
before  the  storm,  and  in  the  springtime  came  a  ship  from 
St.  Malo  bearing  not  the  familiar  figure  of  De  Monts  with 
new  resources  and  froah  settlers,  but  the  intelligence  that  his 
enemies  had  triumphed  and  his  charter  been  revoked.  There 
was  nothing  for  it  but  to  pluck  up  the  deepening  roots  of  set- 
tlement and  return  to  the  motherbnd,  and  this  Poutrincourt 
did  with  a  sore  heart  and  a  steadfast  determination  to  return 
again.  He  took  up  the  mancle  of  interest  and  labor  which 
De  Monts  now  dropped,  and,  while  Champlain  proceeded  to 
write  his  own  name  large  in  the  history  of  the  New  France 
which  he  hoped  to  establish  on  the  banks  of  the  St.  Lawrence, 
Poutrincourt  continued  faithful  to  Port  Royal,  and,  in  1610, 
returned  with  new  settlers  and  a  zealous  pnest — Father  la 
Fleche — who  soon  succeeded  in  converting  the  friendly  Mem- 
berton  and  his  entire  tribe. 

In  the  following  year  came  another  crisis,  and  the  death 
of  Henry  IV,  by  the  knife  of  Ravaillac,  brought  upon  the 
European  scene  the  towering  and  merciless  figure  of  Marie 
de  Medicis,  and  upon  the  smaller  Acadian  arena  the  black- 
robed  and  stormy  figure  of  the  Jesuit.  The  Society  of  Jesus 
was  now  predominant  at  Paris,  and  it  proceeded  to  take  pos- 
session, or  attempted  to  take  possession,  of  the  souls  of  the 
people  in  Acadie.  If  its  zealous  representatives  had  shown 
only  the  religious  courage  and  constancy  of  their  later  col- 
leagues in  the  region  of  the  Great  Lakes,  much  difficulty 
might  have  been  spared  the  struggling  colonists  and  much 
of  the  strife  averted,  which  is  said  to  have  caused  Poutrin- 
court to  once  cry  out  to  them :  "Show  me  the  path  to  Heaven 
and  I  will  show  you  yours  on  earth."  The  founder  of  the 
new  colony  was  now  merely  able  to  hold  his  little  territory 
around  Port  Royal,  while  Madame  de  Guercheville,  a  lady 
of  the  French  Court  famed  for  both  virtue  and  beauty,  had 


72 


THE   STORY    OF   THE   DOMINION 


obtained  the  rights  of  the  Huguenot  merchants  at  St.  Malo 
and  transferred  them  to  the  Jest  its,  and  had  also  received 
from  Louis  XIII  a  grant  of  the  whole  of  North  America 
from  the  St.  Lawrence  to  Florida. 


RIVAL    COLONIES    AND    KACES 

But  to  have  was  not  to  hold,  as  was  soon  to  be  seen  at 
Port  Royal,  and  as  might  have  been  gathered  from  the  terms 
of  any  French  charter  which  included  the  English  settle- 
ments of  Virginia  and  Maine  within  its  scope.  The  Society 
of  Jesus  was  now,  however,  nominally  in  control  of  the  con- 
tinent, through  its  fair  devotee  and  as  far  as  the  fiat  of  a 
French  King  could  avail.  In  Acadie,  Father  la  Fleche  was 
soon  supported  by  Fathers  Biard  and  Masse,  and  their  labors 
carried  the  banner  of  their  faith  far  and  wide  among  the 
Indians.  In  1G13,  Madame  de  Guercheville  sent  out  a  fresh 
expedition,  with  men  and  stores  and  accompanied  by  two 
more  Jesuit  priests — Quentin  and  Du  Thet — and  a  settle- 
ment on  the  coast  of  New  England  was  formed  at  a  place 
which  was  named  St.  Laurent.  The  action  was  taken  in  de- 
fiance of,  or  indifference  to,  the  claims  of  England,  and  met 
a  very  speedy  ending.  One  day  in  the  later  spring,  a  stoutly 
armed  vessel  sailed  into  the  natural  harbor,  which,  as  its 
Captain  had  just  learned  from  Indians,  sheltered  from  sight 
of  the  sea,  Frenchmen  who  had  dared  to  intrude  upon  soil 
claimed  for  the  blood-red  flag  which  waved  at  his  masthead. 
The  settlement  was  promptly  uprooted  by  the  commander, 
who,  in  the  future,  was  to  become  wealthy  and  well  known 
as  Sir  Samuel  Argall,  and  always  and  everywhere  as  a  bitter 
enemy  of  the  French.  He  followed  up  this  success  by  a  raid 
upon  Port  Royal,  which  he  found  defenceless,  Biencourt — 
the  gdllant  son  of  the  adventurous  Poutrincourt — being  away 
from  his  command  in  an  expedition  against  the  Indians.  The 
place  was  pillaged  and  burned  to  the  ground,  and  even  the 
crops  in  the  fields  were  destroyed.  Argall  returned  in  tri- 
umph to  Virginia,  and  the  unhappy  French  colonists  strug- 
gled through  the  ensuing  winter  by  means  of  wild  roots  and 


THE   LAND    OP   EVANOELJNB 


78 


St.  Malo 
received 
America 


le  seen  at 
the  terms 
ish  settle- 
ae  Society 
if  the  con- 
!  fiat  of  a 
rieche  was 
aeir  labors 
among  the 
Dut  a  fresh 
sd  by  two 
d  a  settle- 
at  a  place 
iken  in  de- 
1,  and  met 
^,  a  stoutly 
ich,  as  its 
from  sight 
upon  soil 
masthead, 
omraander, 
well  known 
as  a  bitter 
IS  by  a  raid 
Jiencourt — 
being  away 
idians.  The 
,d  even  the 
•ned  in  tri- 
nists  striig- 
d  roots  and 


1 


the  help  of  half-starved  and  friendly  Indians.  Poutrin- 
court,  shortly  after  this  event,  died  a  soldier's  death  in 
France,  and  his  son,  who  had  already  inherited  his  ability 
and  energy,  obtained  the  rank  of  Vice-Admiral,  and  remained 
in  Acadie  to  hunt,  fish,  shoot,  trade,  and  guard  the  remnants 
of  his  cherished  settlement.  Ultimately,  he  rebuilt  Port 
Royal,  and  in  this,  as  well  as  in  his  generally  adventurous 
life,  was  strongly  seconded  by  a  young  Huguenot  nobleman 
— Charles  de  la  Tour — who  was  destined  to  take  an  Impor- 
tant part  in  the  stern  game  of  war  and  colonization  which 
followed. 

Meanwhile,  as  a  result  of  Argall's  raids,  Great  Britain 
began  to  press  the  claims  upon  the  soil  of  North  America 
which  Cabot's  discoveries  seemed  to  give.  By  right  of  set- 
tlement, the  greater  part  of  the  Atlantic  Coast,  from  Acadie 
downward,  was  already  British ;  by  right  of  discovery,  and 
despite  a  record  of  colonization  and  exploration  which  now 
crowns  French  energy  and  enterprise  with  honor,  claim  was 
laid  to  the  whole  of  what  has  become  knovni  as  Canada,  and 
was  for  nearly  a  century  called  British  America.  In  times 
of  war  between  France  and  England  this  claim  continued  to 
be  aggressively  presented  by  British  invasion  or  British  ex- 
peditions; in  times  of  nominal  peace  it  was  too  often  urged 
by  Colonial  invasion  and  New  England  raids,  followed  or 
preceded  by  French  expeditions  of  a  similarly  lawless  char- 
acter. 

In  1614,  King  James  I  granted  to  a  Plymouth  Association 
all  the  lands  lying  between  the  45th  and  48th  parallels,  and 
called  the  region  New  England.  There  was,  of  course,  a 
New  France  already  in  existence,  and  a  New  Spain  was 
now  taking  unto  itself  much  of  the  southern  part  of  the 
continent.  Sir  William  Alexander,  afterward  Earl  of  Ster- 
ling and  Viscount  Canada,  a  man  of  letters,  and  a  patriotic 
Scotchman,  resolved  that  there  should  also  be  a  New  Scot- 
land. From  the  King  he  obtained,  in  1621,  a  grant  of  the 
whole  of  Acadie,  under  the  general  name  of  Nova  Scotia, 
and  including  the  Maritime  Provinces  of  the  present  day. 

DOMINION — 4 


■'■■^-..auaM.miijuiiiiiJUi 


wamoBm 


74 


THE   STORY    OF    THE   DOMINION 


He  began  quietly  by  making  a  small  settlement,  and  then 
sending  out  ships  yearly  with  trading  and  exploring  parties. 
The  younger  Poutrincourt  was  now  Commandant  of  Acadie 
in  the  name  of  the  French  King,  and,  with  De  la  Tour, 
presented  to  the  thrifty  Scotchman  a  rather  difficult  nut  for 
breaking  by  either  the  weapons  of  diplomacy  or  war.  But 
the  latter  was  a  man  of  resource,  and  had  he  been  backed  up 
by  the  weight  of  practical  assistance  from  the  Crown,  as  well 
as  of  its  nominal  patronage,  he  would  have  eventually  built 
up  a  strong  Scotch  dependency.  Charles  I  renewed  his 
charter  in  1625,  and  also  approved  an  undertaking  which 
has  been  since  criticised,  very  unfairly  and  ignorantly,  by 
men  who  know  nothing  of  the  spirit  of  that  age,  and  judge 
everything  by  the  somewhat  mercenary  and  largely  demo- 
cratic spirit  of  the  present  time. 

An  Order  of  Knights-Baronets  of  Nova  Scotia  was  estab- 
lished by  which,  in  return  for  certain  substantial  contribu- 
tions tr  the  Colonization  fund  and  the  pledge  of  planting 
actual  settlements  on  the  lands  granted  by  the  Crown,  each 
member  of  the  Order  was  to  be  given  an  estate  of  eighteen 
square  miles.  Many  a  title  has  been  accorded  for  less  ser- 
vice to  the  StatCj  present  or  prospective,  than  this,  and,  given 
a  repsonably  fair  selection  of  the  gentleman  upon  whom  the 
honor  and  the  opportunity  were  conferred,  it  is  difficult  to 
see  why  abuse  and  sneers  should  be  leveled  at  the  scheme  and 
its  originator.  About  the  same  time  the  crafty  Richelieu 
was  inaugurating  in  New  France  the  Company  of  the  Hun- 
dred Associates  with  similar  objects  in  view,  though  with 
natural  differences  in  detail.  Something  was  done  in  carry- 
ing out  the  plan,  and  soon  a  uumbei'  of  estates  dotted  the 
Enfliih  maps  of  Nova  Scotia  which  would  hardly  be  found 
French  map  of  Acadie.     The  settlements  were  not  so 


m 


quick  in  maturing,  but  a  certain  number  of  immigrants  did 
come  out  despite  the  fresh  war  which  soon  began  between 
England  and  Fr  nee. 

When  Admiral  Kirke  arrived  on  the  expedition  which  so 
triumphantly  terminated  in  the  temporary  capture  of  Quebec, 


THE   LAND    OF   EVANGELINE 


76 


ad  then 
parties. 
'  Acadie 
a  Tour, 
nut  for 
ir.     But 
icked  up 
1,  as  well 
thy  built 
ewed  hia 
ng  which 
antly,  by 
md  judge 
3ly  demo- 
was  estab- 
contribu- 
£  planting 
•own,  each 
.f  eighteen 
)!•  less  ser- 
and,  given 
whom  the 
difficult  to 
scheme  and 
Richelieu 
f  the  Hun- 
lough  with 
le  in  carry- 
dotted  the 
y  be  found 
ere  not  so 
igrants  did 
jan  between 

on  whicli  so 
e  of  Quebec, 


he  bore  down  upon  battle-scarred  Port  Royal  and  declared 
the  whole  country  to  be  under  the  rule  and  government  of 
Sir  William  Alexander's  Company  or  Order.  Poutrincourt, 
ibe  younger,  had  died  some  years  before  this,  but  Charles  de 
la  Tour  still  held  a  strong  position  at  Fort  St.  Louis,  near 
Qsi\yQ  Sable.  Here,  in  1629,  he  shut  himself  up  and  defied 
the  English,  though  his  father,  Claude  de  la  Tour,  was  cap- 
tured on  his  way  with  supplies  and  armament  for  Port 
Royal  and  was  carried  to  an  English  prison.  These  surviv- 
ors of  the  Huguenot  aristocracy  of  the  old  world  are  very 
picturesque  figures  in  the  early  history  of  the  new  one.  The 
elder  was  a  trader  by  profession  and  perhaps  at  heart.  He 
was  certainly  far  from  possessing  the  many  patriotic  and 
gallant  qualities  of  his  son.  To  the  English  Court  and  En- 
glish statecraft  he  was  felt,  however,  to  be  a  great  prize. 
The  power  of  the  family  in  Acadie  was  well  kno\vn,  though 
it  was  forgotten,  or  unknown,  that  the  greater  influence  set- 
tled in  the  person  and  around  the  character  of  its  younger 
member. 

Claude  de  la  Tour  was  made  much  of  in  England,  feted 
everywhere,  married  to  a  lady  of  the  Court,  made  a  Knight- 
Baronet  of  Nova  Scotia,  granted  forty-five  hundred  square 
miles  of  territory  on  the  Atlantic  Coast,  and  gradually  won 
over  to  espouse  the  cause  of  England  and  to  promise  the  sup- 
port of  his  son — who  was  included  in  the  titles  and  grants. 
But  he  had  undertaken  too  much,  and  when,  in  1G30,  he 
arrived  ai  Port  Louis  with  British  ships  and  colonists  and 
the  assurance  of  support  to  his  plans,  he  was  repulsed  in  his 
negotiations  and  in  the  assault  which  followed  their  failure, 
and  was  compelled  to  withdraw  to  Port  Royal  with  his  set- 
tlers and  the  wife  who  had  been  led  to  expect  a  triumphant 
entry  into  new  and  vast  possessions  and  an  early  acquisition 
of  territory  for  the  Crown  of  England.  She  remained  faith- 
ful to  her  husband,  however,  through  good  and  evil  report, 
through  the  sunshine  of  success  and  the  shadow  of  sorrow. 
The  latter  unfortunately  predominated,  and  when,  two  years 
after  this  time,  peace  was  concluded  by  the  respective  Sov- 


:a!fc 

J 


76 


THE   STORY    OF    THE   DOMINION 


ereigns  and  New  France  and  Acadie  both  handed  back  to 
France,  the  father  had  the  humiliation  of  having  to  seek 
refuge  with  his  son  and  to  find  himself  stripped  of  both  his 
reputation  and  his  resources.  Thence  he  fades  from  the  can- 
vas of  history.  Charles  de  la  Tour  had,  in  the  meantime, 
won  high  credit  for  his  refusal  of  English  approaches,  and, 
in  1631,  became  the  French  King's  Lieutenant-General  in 
Acadie,  with  sufficient  men  and  arms  and  supplies  to  sur- 
round the  position  with  something  more  than  an  empty  halo. 
Then  followed  the  despatch  of  Isuac  de  Razily,  a  relation 
of  Richelieu,  with  a  definite  mission  to  drive  the  Scotch  out 
of  Acadie;  and  with  him  were  Nicholas  Denys,  destined  to 
succeed  L'Escarbot  as  a  picturesque  scribe,  and  D'Aubray 
Charnisay,  a  French  nobleman  of  ability  and  intense  ambi- 
tion. Various  minor  struggles  with  New  England  ensued, 
in  which  success  generally  rested  with  the  French,  nnd  where 
both  De  la  Tour  and  Charnisay  distinguished  themselves. 
De  Razily  died  in  1636,  and  left  his  power  in  the  divided 
hands  of  two  antagonistic  and  ambitious  men.  De  la  Tour 
retired  to  a  new  fortress  which  he  had  built  at  the  mouth  of 
the  St.  John  River,  and  for  five  years  ruled,  practically,  over 
the  Nova  Scotia  peninsula.  Charnisay  remained  at  Port 
Royal,  which  he  had  rebuilt  and  greatly  strengthened,  and 
maintained  authority  along  the  coast  of  the  New  Brunswick 
and  Maine  of  the  future,  from  Chignecto  to  Pemaquid. 

JEALOUSY    OF    GREAT    RIVALS 

Each  was  jealous  of  the  other's  power  and  plans,  but, 
while  De  la  Tour  rested  in  proud  contempt  within  the  walls 
of  his  fortress,  surrounded  by  his  family  s^d  relatives,  his 
soldiers,  Indians,  and  steadily  successful  fur-ii-aders,  Charni- 
say sought  the  seat  of  power  and  undermined  his  rival's 
reputation  at  the  Court  of  Franct\  In  1641  he  was  success- 
ful. De  la  Tour  was  deprived  of  his  position  and  posses- 
sions and  ordered  to  France  under  arrest.  It  was  a  desperate 
case.  To  go  was  to  meet  ruin  at  the  hands  of  a  Cardinal 
whu  hated  the  Iluguouots;  to  stay  was  to  court  ruin  as  a 


at 

inir 

his 

moi 

To, 

eno 

of 

for 

and 

beei 

capi 

and 

the 

the:^ 


THE   LAND   OF   EVANGELINE 


?7 


Port 
fv..,  and 

swick 
U. 


but, 
walls 

v^es,  his 

Chami- 
rival's 

success- 
posses- 

i^sperate 
ardinai 


rebel  But  in  the  latter  casa  De  la  Tour  knew  his  friends 
would  stand  by  him,  and  his  followers  fight  for  him ;  while 
chance  might  at  any  time  reverse  the  conditions  prevalent 
ai'  Paris.  He  therefore  stayed,  and  his  defiance  resulted  in 
a  strife  which  filled  the  forests  and  coasts  of  Acadie  with  the 
sights  and  sounds  of  civil  war  during  a  number  of  years. 

It  was  the  war  of  a  hero,  and  the  fitting  wife  of  a  hero, 
with  a  man  whose  character  has  been  revealed  by  the  light 
of  passing  years,  and  of  history,  as  so  infamous  in  its  indif- 
ference to  honor  and  integrity  as  to  defy  the  powers  of  re- 
strained description.  The  real  qualities  of  De  la  Tour  were 
open  to  the  world,  sd  had  obtained  the  respect  of  all  who 
knew  him.  As  so  often  happens  in  the  history  of  countries, 
he  was  the  one  man  who,  at  this  crisis,  might  have  made 
Acadie  a  great  and  prosperous  French  state.  But  he  was 
denied  the  opportunity  by  a  fate  that  has  ordained  other  ends 
for  the  region  which  two  rivals  were  then  struggling  with 
such  varied  motives  to  possess  and  rule.  Those  of  De  la 
Tour  were  the  ambitions  of  a  patriot  combined  with  much 
of  the  prescience  of  a  statesman.  Those  of  Charnisay  were 
the  self-seeking  principles  of  a  trader  combined  with  the 
unscrupulous  personal  designs  of  a  Philippe  Egalite. 

The  conflict  began  by  Charnisay  attacking  Fort  La  Tour 
at  the  mouth  of  the  St.  John,  in  the  spring  of  1643,  and  be- 
ing repulsed  with  considerable  loss.  It  continued  through 
his  close  investment  of  the  place  and  the  a/rival  of  reinforce- 
ments from  France;  and  was  marked  by  the  escape  of  De  la 
Tour  and  his  wife  to  Boston  through  the  closs  lines  of  the 
enemy,  and  by  their  return  in  triumph  with  five  ships  full 
of  strong  and  willing  men  from  Massachusetts.  It  ended, 
for  the  moment,  in  the  chagrin  and  amazement  of  Charnisay 
and  his  hasty  flight  to  Port  Royal.  The  result  should  have 
been  a  permanent  one,  with  Port  Poyal  taken  and  Charnisay 
captured.  But  the  New  Englanders  had  to  be  considered, 
and  De  la  Tour  found  that  they  were  amply  content  with 
the  booty  in  furs  which  they  had  gained  and  the  term3  which 
they  had  forced  him  to  yield.     Perhaps,  too,  their  thrifty 


i5«* 


i 


78 


THE   STORY    OF   THE   DOMINION 


■ 


patriotism  saw  possibilities  of  injury  to  France  and  benefit 
to  themselves  in  not  too  suddenly  ending  the  war  of  the  rivals. 
De  la  Tour,  therefore,  set  himself  to  strengthen  his  defences 
and  consolidate  his  resources,  while  his  brave  wife — whose 
conduct  during  the  hardships  of  the  siege,  the  escape,  and 
the  journey  to  Boston  had  already  been  heroic — started  for 
France  to  obtain  assistance  from  her  Huguenot  friends  in 
Rochelle.  Charnisay,  meanwhile,  departed  for  Paris,  where 
he  arranged  to  have  his  rival's  wife  arrested  for  treason. 
She  escaped  him,  however,  reached  England  in  safety,  and, 
after  twelve  weary  months  of  peril  and  adventure,  arrived 
home  at  Fort  La  Tour. 

She  had  brought  some  help  back  with  her  and  her  hus- 
band went  to  Boston  to  get  more  with  the  intention  of  this 
time  finishing  his  foe.  Charnisay  heard  of  his  departure 
and  with  cruisers  and  troops  at  once  invested  the  fortress. 
The  gallant  wife  did  everything  to  supply  her  husband's 
place,  and,  perhaps,  she  more  than  filled  it.  Supplies  ran 
short  and  traitors  were  discovered.  Instead  of  being  hanged 
they  were  mistakenly  driven  with  contempt  from  the  fort 
and  intelligence  thus  afforded  Charnisay  as  to  the  state  of 
the  garrison.  Fire  was  opened  by  his  battleships,  but  it  was 
replied  to  with  a  force  and  good-will  Avhich  destroyed  one  of 
his  ships  and  drove  back  his  men  with  heavy  loss.  For  two 
months  the  heroic  garrison  and  the  gallant  lady  defied  his 
blockade  and  laughed,  apparently,  at  the  assault  which  he 
was  afraid  to  deliver.  De  la  Tour,  meanwhile,  had  returned 
from  Boston  and  lay  cruising  as  near  as  possible  to  the  scene 
of  the  siege,  but  his  single  ship  was  no  match  for  the  fleet 
of  his  enemy.  One  night,  in  the  month  of  April,  Charnisay 
plucked  up  courage  to  once  more  defy  the  chances  of  battle 
with  this  woman  who  seemed  able  to  resist  all  the  men  and 
ships  he  could  bring  against  her.  During  three  days  the 
fresh  straggle  lasted,  while  every  rampart  was  attacked  at 
once  and  every  weak  spot  seemed  knovm  to  the  enemy.  But 
the  starving  garrison,  though  depltited  in  numbers  and  weak- 
ened by  privation,  seemed  inspired  with  the  courage  of  their 


THE   LAND    OF  EVANGELINE 


79 


1  benefit 
le  rivals, 
defences 
1 — whose 
ape,  and 
irted  for 
iends  in 
is,  where 
treason, 
ety,  and, 
,  arrived 

her  hu8- 
>n  of  this 
ieparture 
fortress, 
husband's 
)plies  ran 
ig  hanged 
the  fort 
3  state  of 
)ut  it  was 
ed  one  of 
For  two 
defied  his 
which  he 
returned 
the  scene 
the  fleet 
Oharnisay 
of  battle 
men  and 
days  the 
stacked  at 
imy.    But 
and  weak- 
fe  of  their 


leader  and  held  their  own  with  the  fortitude  of  men  who 
knew  that  they  were  fighting  against  fate,  but  that  they  were 
doing  so  for  a  woman  who  was  worthy  of  their  loyalty  and 
the  sacrifice  of  their  lives. 

At  last  a  Swiss  mercenary  turned  traitor  and  threw  open 
the  gates.  Charnisay  entered  in  triumph,  but  none  knew 
better  than  he  that  victory  was  still  far  away.  Then  came 
the  blackest  and  meanest  deed  in  the  history  of  the  northern 
part  of  the  continent.  Afraid  of  this  woman,  afraid  of  being 
again  repulsed  by  her  leadership  in  the  prolonged  fight  which 
must  still  follow,  Charnisay  asked  for  a  truce  and  offered 
honorable  terms.  With  a  woman's  natural  desire  to  save 
her  brave  followers,  Mme.  de  la  Tour  consented  and  the 
terms  of  capitulation  were  duly  drawn  up.  Then,  with  the 
fortress  in  his  hands  and  the  chatelaine  at  his  mercy,  this 
mockery  of  a  man  tore  up  the  document,  repudiated  his  obli- 
gations and  his  honor,  and,  placing  a  halter  around  the  neck 
of  the  brave  woman  who  had  beaten  him  in  fair  fight,  forced 
her  to  watch  the  death  struggles  of  her  soldiers  as  one  by  one 
they  were  hanged  on  the  ramparts.  Carried  to  Port  Royal 
by  the  conqueror,  the  heroine  of  Acadie  died  of  a  broken 
heart  at  the  end  of  three  long  and  weary  weeks  spent,  no 
doubt,  in  brooding  thought  over  a  broken  home  and  butch- 
ered followers  and  a  husband  who  was  now  a  wanderer  on 
the  face  of  the  earth. 

A    TURN    OF    THE    WHEEL    OF    FATE 

Charnisay,  like  the  wicked  of  Scriptural  fame,  flourished 
to  the  full  of  his  expectations  during  the  next  few  years. 
Supreme  in  Acadie,  confident  of  his  favor  at  Court,  fair  of 
word  and  arrangement  with  New  England,  reaping  riches 
from  the  fur-trade,  successful  in  crushing  his  only  remaining 
rival — Nicholas  Denys,  who  had  been  his  friend  and  school- 
mate, but  had  become  rich  and  strong  in  Cape  Breton  Island 
•--this  traitor  and  perjured  murderer  seemed  well  content 
with  his  fortune  and  fate  and  devoted  a  good  deal  of  time 
to  the  Christianizing  of  the  Indians.     Suddenly,  in  1650,  as 


I 


^ 


THE   STORY    OF    THE   DOMINION 


if  in  mockery  of  his  fair  future  hopes  and  the  brightness 
of  his  prospects,  he  fell  into  the  little  river  at  Port  Royal 
and  was  drowned  like  a  rat.  De  la  Tour,  meanwhile,  had 
been  treated  with  the  respect  he  deserved  in  the  parts  of 
New  England  and  the  continent  in  which  he  had  spent  five 
years  of  a  wandering  life,  and  was  now  able  to  go  to  France, 
refute  the  falsehoods  of  his  enemy,  and  receive  every  rep- 
aration which  the  King  could  give. 

He  was  made  Governor  of  Acadie,  the  fur-trade  monopoly 
was  placed  in  his  hands,  and,  to  ensure  the  permanence  of 
his  fortune,  he  cut  another  knot  of  difificulty  by  marrying 
Charnisay's  widow  and  taking  the  children  of  his  great  rival 
into  his  hands  and  under  his  protection.  But  it  is  easy  to 
believe  that  nothing,  to  a  man  of  his  sensibilities  and  char- 
acter, could  compensate  for  the  shattered  home  of  his  earlier 
happiness,  or  the  death  of  the  brave  men  who  had  helped 
to  make  and  keep  his  earlier  fortunes.  Another  turn  of  the 
wheel  of  fate  was  in  store,  however,  for  both  the  French 
Governor  and  the  governed.  England  was  now  in  the  stem 
and  successful  hands  of  Cromwell,  and  a  large  expedition, 
which  had  been  sent  to  capture  the  Dutch  settlements  on 
the  Hudson,  was  turned  suddenly  and  without  notice  upon 
Acadie,  through  peace  being  patched  up  between  England  and 
Holland.  De  la  Tour  was  easily  overpowered  under  such 
circumstances  and  Acadie  overrun.  Boston  and  New  Eng- 
land were  at  the  back  of  the  new  move;  Cromwell,  who 
seems  to  have  understood  the  great  issues  turning  upon  the 
apparently  petty  struggles  of  these  rival  settlements,  refused 
to  intervene,  or  to  restore  Acadie  to  France;  and  De  la 
Tour  was  seemingly  crushed  and  ruined  once  more.  But 
he  was  not  the  man  to  meet  such  a  fate  without  effort. 
Going  to  England,  he  saw  Cromwell  and  impressed  him, 
evidently,  by  both  his  arguments  and  his  personality.  The 
stern  Protector  relented,  and  granted  the  whole  region  down 
into  the  centre  of  what  is  now  the  State  of  Maine  to  a  Com- 
pany which  included  De  la  Tour  and  Sir  Thomas  Temple. 
The  latter  was  made  Governor,  the  former  soon  sold  out  his 


IMWillitlK^ 


THE   LAND    OF  EVANGELINE 


81 


ghtness 
t  Royal 
lie,  had 
parts  of 
lent  five 
France, 
ery  rep- 

lonopoly 
aence  of 
narrying 
•eat  rival 
J  easy  to 
md  char- 
is  earlier 
d  helped 
rn  of  the 
e  French 
the  stern 
cpedition, 
ments  on 
tice  upon 
2;land  and 
ider  such 
«Iew  Eng- 
,vell,  who 
\ipon  the 
s,  refused 
ad  De  la 
ore.     But 
>ut  effort, 
ssed  him, 
ity.    The 
jion  down 
to  a  Com- 
8  Temple. 
)ld  out  his 


great  interests  in  the  grant,  and,  weary  of  tempting  fate, 
retired  to  the  comfortable  obscurity  of  private  life. 

Until  1667,  when  Charles  II  gave  back  Acadie  to  France 
in  the  Treaty  of  Breda,  the  land  rested  in  reasonable  (juietude. 
From  that  time  until  the  finger  of  fate  placed  its  saal  upon 
the  country  in  1710  and  made  it  British,  Acadie,  or  Nova 
Scotia,  as  it  was  called  in  England,  had  many  Governors, 
but  no  man  of  towering  personality  among  them.  And, 
though  i  place  is  so  important  upon  the  pages  of  history, 
its  white  population  during  this  period  could  always  be 
counted  by  hundreds  and  only  rose  into  thousands  as  a 
small  and  steady  migration  toward  the  end  of  the  eighteenth 
century  began  to  have  a  perceptible  influence.  The  most 
striking  figure  in  these  last  years  of  French  rule  was  that 
of  the  Baron  St*  Castin — hunter  and  wood-ranger,  fighter 
in  a  lawless  fashion  on  behalf  of  law  and  order,  warden  of 
the  marshes  upon  the  Penobscot,  friend  of  the  Indians  and 
guardian  of  Acadian  soil  against  New  England  raids.  With 
his  Indian  wife,  with  wealth  gained  by  the  fur-trade,  and 
with  influence  at  Port  Royal  maintained  through  his  power 
over  the  Indians,  St.  Castin  presents  a  most  picturesque 
personality  and  one  full  of  material  for  the  romancist  in 
these  later  days  of  the  fiction  historical. 

Meanwhile,  the  Province  shared  in  the  ups  and  downs  of 
Colonial  rivalry  and  war.  It  suffered  from  the  raid  of  Sir 
William  Phipps  and  his  Boston  men  in  1690;  i'rom  the  sol- 
diers of  Fort  William  Henry  at  Pemaquid;  from  the  ever 
fluctuating  boundaries  and  the  devastation  of  Indian  fighting 
on  one  side  or  the  other.  In  these  conflicts,  St.  Casun  shared 
and  at  times  triumphed,  while  in  1692,  Iberville  le  Moyne, 
the  dashing  darling  of  French-Canadian  history,  sailed  into 
the  Bay  of  Fundy,  fought  the  British  fleet  in  a  drawn  battle 
and  captured  the  fort  at  Pemaquid,  In  1710,  the  end  of 
Acadie  as  a  French  country  came  when  Colonel  Nicholson, 
Avith  English  ships  and  Colonial  soldiers  on  the  way  to  again 
attempt  the  capture  of  Quebec,  overpowered  the  little  gar- 
rison of  Port  Royal  ^d  overran  the  Province.     The  war- 


THE   STORY   OF   THE   DOMINION 


scarred  fortress  was  renamed  Annapolis  in  honor  of  Queen 
Anne,  and,  although  St.  Castin  and  his  Indians  did  their 
best  for  the  Lilies  of  France  and  tried  hard  to  again  take  pos- 
session of  Pemaquid  when  Nicholson  left,  the  struggle  was 
useless.  Although  the  expedition  against  Quebec  had  failed, 
England  was  in  a  strong  enough  position  in  Europe  to  dictate 
terms  and  by  the  Treaty  of  Utrecht  in  1713  to  retain  Acadie 
while  only  giving  up  to  France  the  Islands  now  known  as 
Cape  Breton  and  Prince  Edward;  together  with  certain 
fishing  privileges  on  the  coast  of  Newfoundland. 

Now  began  the  evolution  of  the  romantic  and  regrettable 
Acadian  question.  The  people  of  French  extraction,  during 
the  years  of  peace  which  followed,  increased  largely  in  num- 
bers and  certainly  did  not  decrease  in  sentimental  loyalty 
toward  France.  Their  Mother-country  was  steadily  strength- 
ening its  position  in  the  Gulf  of  St.  Lawrence  with  a  view 
to  the  future  reconquest  of  Acadie.  The  vast  fortifications 
of  Louisbourg  were  designed  by  Vauban  and  built  at  great 
expense  on  the  Island  of  Cape  Breton.  That  place  became 
the  headquarters  of  French  power  and  pretensions  on  the 
Atlantic,  the  home  of  French  privateers,  and  the  Mecca  of 
Acadian  hopes.  It  supplied  the  Acadians  with  a  market 
for  their  products,  kept  them  in  touch  with  French  sym- 
pathies and  aspirations  and  plots,  and  prevented  their  peace- 
ful acceptance  of  British  rule. 


CONDUCT  AND  CHARACTEE  OF  THE  ACADIANS 

They  professed  neutrality,  refused  to  take  the  oath  of 
allegiance  without  a  proviso  against  being  compelled  to  take 
up  arms  in  opposition  to  France,  and  became  the  easy  vic- 
tims of  emissaries  from  Quebec  intent  upon  stirring  up 
mischief,  the  frequent  allies  of  the  ever-hostile  Indians,  and 
the  friendly  spies  of  the  Louisbourg  gai  risen.  Presently, 
the  country  came  once  more  within  touch  of  the  svdnging 
pendulum  of  European  wa  ,  and,  in  1745,  after  one  of  the 
most  memorable  sieges  of  history — and  an  incidental  French 
attempt  to  capture  Annapolis — the  mighty  fortress  of  Louis- 


■'>y. 


THE   LAND    OF  EVANGELINE 


83 


QiTeen 
d  their 
ike  pos- 
y\e  was 
.  failed, 
(  dictate 

Acadie 
lown  as 

certain 

rrettable 
J  during 
in  niim- 
[  loyalty 
Btrengtb- 
h  a  view 
ifications 
at  great 
became 
on  the 
Mecca  of 
market 
nch  sym- 
eir  peace- 


I  oath  of 
d  to  take 

easy  "vic- 
irring  np 
dians,  and 
Presently, 

swinging 
)ne  of  the 
;al  French 

of  Louis- 


bourg,  the  sentinel  and  guardian  of  French  power  on  the 
Atlantic,  was  captured  by  William  Pepperell  and  his  gal- 
lant New  Englanders.  Three  years  later  it  was  returned  to 
France,  and  during  the  eight  years  following  continued  to 
be  a  thorn  in  the  flesh  to  English  power  in  Nova  Scotia — 
the  Acadie  of  old.  Along  the  unsettled  borders  of  that 
vaguely  defined  region,  the  French  of  Quebec  also  main- 
tained their  claims  and  a  policy  of  pin-pricks  and  fretful 
irritation.  They  were  helped  by  the  sullen,  silly  attitude 
of  the  Acadians  and  by  the  ever-available  information  fur- 
nished by  a  friendly  population  of  French  and  Indian  and 
mixed  extraction. 

After  the  founding  of  Halifax,  in  1749,  and  the  steady 
accretion  of  English  or  Scotch  immigrants,  it  was  decided 
that  something  must  be  done  with  the  \cadians,  who  would 
neither  leave  the  country  and  join  their  friends  nor  remain 
in  the  country  as  faithful  subjects.  They  wanted  to  live 
at  peace  and  in  possession  of  their  homes  with  the  privilege 
of  acting  as  enemies  of  British  supremacy  when  it  so  pleased 
them.  This  was  the  real  meaning  of  "neutrality"  under 
existing  conditions.  Governor  Cornwallis  called  the  leaders 
into  conference  in  1749  without  success  and  warned  them 
without  effect.  A  few  were  sensible  and  took  the  oath 
and  kept  it.  The  majority  were  not  and  still  remained 
subject  to  the  machinations  of  French  authorities,  or  the 
schemes  of  French  priests  such  as  the  notorious  Le  Loutre. 
This  man,  typical  of  the  restless  condition  of  the  country 
and  embodying  fierce  fanaticism  worthy  of  his  devoted  fol- 
lowers among  the  Mic-macs,  made  himself  the  centre  of  dis- 
content, of  border  warfare,  of  Indian  outrage,  of  midnight 
raids.  The  Black  Abbe,  as  he  was  called,  dominated  loyal 
and  disloyal  alike — the  former  by  terror  and  the  latter  by 
a  sentiment  of  shrinking  respect  for  the  intensity  of  his 
desire  to  restore  French  power. 

The  massacre  of  English  people  in  Dartmouth  by  Indians 
under  his  supposed  commands,  the  building  of  Fort  Beause- 
jour  on  the  Isthmus  of  Chignecto  by  Acadians  working  un- 


b4 


THE   STORY   OF   THE   DOMINION 


der  his  compulsion,  tho  murder  of  Captain  Howe  near  Fort 
Lawrence,  when  bearing  a  flag  of  truce,  and  by  Indians 
known  to  be  under  Le  Loutre's  orders,  are  pages  in  the  life- 
drama  of  a  most  extraordinary  man.  But  tho  end  was  near. 
In  1754  the  French  Governor  at  Quebec  absolved  Acadians 
of  any  allegiance  to  England  whatever,  and  declared  that 
they  must  join  the  militia  of  New  France  against  the  com- 
mon enemy.  Colonel  Lawrence,  Governor  of  Nova  Scotia, 
naturally  retaliated  by  proclaiming  that  any  Acadian  who 
had  taken  the  oath  and  was  caught  fighting  against  the  British 
Crown  would  be  shot  as  a  deserter.  The  French  planned 
an  invasion  from  Beausejour,  the  English  anticipated  the 
movement  and  captured  the  fort,  which  was  promptly  de- 
molished. 

A    PATHETIC   EVENT 

Then  followed  the  pathetic  event  which  has  been  so  widely 
discussed  as  a  result  of  Longfellow's  popular  and  charming 
version  of  the  story.  The  qualities  of  the  Acadians  natu- 
rally lent  themselves  to  poetic  description  and  their  sad  fate 
has  also  brought  them  much  of  sympathy  and  the  halo  which 
time  so  often  throws  around  the  memory  of  great  sufferings. 
But  if  the  gentle,  attractive,  courteous  character  of  the  in- 
dustrious Acadian  deserves  admiration,  so  also  does  his  weak- 
ness in  trying  to  run  with  the  hare  and  hunt  with  the  hounds 
deserve  condemnation.  If  the  beautiful  villages  of  Minas 
and  Grand  Pre  and  the  lovely  little  homes  of  the  people  win 
our  sympathetic  appreciation,  so  also  should  the  continuous 
effort  of  the  British  soldiers  to  protect  them  and  of  the 
British  Governor  to  throw  around  and  over  them  the  shield 
of  British  allegiance.  It  had  now,  however,  become  ap- 
parent that  the  Gordian  knot  must  be  cut,  and  the  secret 
enemy  within  the  gates  be  plainly  dealt  with.  One  last 
and  vigorous  warning  was  given  that  the  oath  must  be  taken 
and  that  the  olive  branch  thiis  held  out  was  final.  They 
were  told  distinctly  that  British  allegiance,  or  foreign  exile, 
was  now  to  be  the  Acadians'  choice. 


1 


U] 

tl 
li 
d( 


!& 

..m 


THE  LAND   OF   EVANOELINB 


86 


,r  Fort 
Indians 
le  lif  e- 
i8  near, 
jadians 
Bd  that 
le  com- 
Scotia, 
an  who 
British 
planned 
ited  the 
ptly  de- 


,0  widely 
harming 
ns  natn- 
sad  fate 
lIo  which 
ifferings. 
f  the  in- 
his  weak- 
e  hounds 
of  Minas 
jople  win 
antinuous 
id  of  the 
;he  shield 
come  ap- 
;he  secret 
One  last 
be  taken 
lal.     They 
lign  exile, 


They  chose  the  latter,  though  with  an  evident  disbelief 
in  its  accomplishment,  and  an  evident  faith  in  their  own 
immunity  from  punishment.  Governor  Lawrence  at  once 
made  his  arran.2,'ements,  with  sternness  and  secrecy.  Colo- 
nel Winslovv,  and  troops  from  New  England,  supervised 
the  operation,  which  began  suddenly  in  the  summer  of  1755. 
Within  a  few  months  over  G,000  Acadians  were  sent  from 
Minas,  Piziquid,  Annapolis,  and  Chignecto  to  various  points 
in  the  British  Colonies  to  the  south — a  few  to  England  and 
the  West  Indies.  Every  effort  was  made  to  keep  families 
together  and  to  preserve  to  the  unfortunate  their  precious 
lares  and  penates.  But  there  was  necessarily  much  of  hard- 
ship and  suffering,  much  of  romantic  adventure  and  stern, 
unrelieved  sorrow.  The  beautiful  and  historic  village  of 
Grand  Pre  was  given  to  the  flames  and  Nova  Scotia  was 
finally  British  to  the  core.  Governor  Lawrence,  in  his  let- 
ter to  the  Governors  of  the  other  Colonies  regarding  the 
exiles,  made  this  fairly  reasonable  explanation  of  his  action : 

"I  offered  such  of  them  as  had  not  been  openly  in  arms  apainst  us  a 
continuance  of  tho  possession  of  their  lands  if  they  would  take  the  oath 
of  allegiance  unqualified  by  any  reservation  whatsoever;  but  this  they 
have  most  audaciously  as  well  as  unanimously  refused,  atid  if  they  would 
presume  to  do  this  when  there  is  a  large  fleet  of  ships  of  war  in  the  Har- 
bor and  a  considerable  land  force  m  the  Province,  what  might  we  expect 
from  them  when  tho  approaching  winter  deprives  us  of  tho  former,  and 
when  the  troops,  who  are  only  hired  from  Now  England  occasionally  and 
for  a  small  time,  have  returned  home?' ' 

The  deed,  however,  was  done,  and  seems  to  have  been 
one  of  those  incidents  in  a  vast,  tangled  web  of  Empire- 
building  where  an  isolated  Governor  did  the  best  he  could 
with  a  difficult  situation.  As  time  passed  on  and  events 
made  British  power  secure  against  either  French  plot  or 
French  assault,  the  Acadians  were  allowed  to  wander  back 
to  their  old  homes  and  to  rebuild  the  altars  of  their  sires, 
until,  by  the  Census  of  1891,  in  the  Canadian  Provinces  of 
tho  Atlantic  there  were  more  than  a  hundred  thousand  loyal, 
light-hearted,  and  prosperous  British  subjects  of  Acadian 
descent. 


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86 


THE  STORY   OF  THE  DOMINION 


CHAPTER  V 


THE   FRENCH   AND    ENGLISH    WARS 


IT  was  a  vast  and  splendid  setting  which  nature  provided 
in  North  America  for  the  panorama  of  war  between 
France  and  England.  Amid  the  gloomy  aisles  of  end- 
less forests,  in  a  region  thousands  of  miles  in  length  and 
breadth,  amid  a  myriad  of  lakes  and  rivers,  and  around  the 
inland  seas  which  empty  through  the  St.  Lawrence  into  the 
Atlantic,  bodies  of  armed  men  marched  to  and  fro  and  the 
sound  of  cannon  echoed  through  wastes  hitherto  sacred  to 
the  freedom  of  the  animal  world  and  the  wild  vagaries  of 
savage  tribes. 

RIVALRY  AND  WARFARE   OF  A  CENTURY 

Sometimes,  as  the  hundred  years  of  intermittent  conflict 
passed  away,  war  would  break  out  between  the  settlements 
of  New  France  and  the  far-away  Colonies  on  the  New 
England  coast;  sometimes  it  reached  the  Canadian  shores 
or  passed  in  a  course  of  devastation  down  the  Mississippi 
and  Ohio  Valleys;  sometimes  the  sound  of  English  guns 
would  be  heard  from  the  ramparts  of  Quebec,  or  the  tramp 
of  New  England  volunteers  echo  through  the  forests  border- 
ing on  the  Great  Lakes ;  sometimes  it  would  occur  when  the 
Mother-countries  were  nominally  at  peace;  sometimes  the 
war-whoop  of  the  savage  would  be  heard  on  one  side,  or  on 
both,  and  the  shadow  of  the  scalping-knife  rest  over  the 
pioneer  homes  of  French  and  English  alike.  Everywhere 
and  at  all  times  the  issue  was  the  ownership  of  a  continent,  as 

••The  flag  of  England  and  the  flag  of  France 
Waved  in  war's  alternate  chance." 

The  rivalry  was  inevitable,  the  hositility  bitter,  the  con- 
flict of  diplomacy  or  of  war  continuous,  the  result  concealed 


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f 


THE   FRENCH   AND   ENGLISH    WARS 


m 


rovided 
jetween 

of  end- 
gth  and 
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into  the 

and  the 
lacred  to 
garies  of 


conflict 
ttlements 
the  New 
an  shores 
Mississippi 
;lish  guns 
he  tramp 
ts  border- 
when  the 
times  the 
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over  the 
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ntinent,  as 


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from  view  and  its  importance  hardly  understood.  For  a 
time,  indeed,  it  was  uncertain.  The  French  sailors  and 
navigators  were  as  brave  and  enthusiastic  and  determined 
as  were  the  English;  and  Cartier,  Champlain,  De  Monts, 
and  Poutrincourt  rank  easily  with  Kirke  and  Alexander, 
Gilbert  and  Raleigh.  Men  like  Drake  and  Frobisher  cared 
little  for  permanent  colonization  and  thought  more  of  de- 
stroying a  Spanish  town  or  capturing  a  French  ship  in  south- 
ern seas  than  of  founding  a  city  or  establishing  a  colony 
in  the  north.  The  French  monarchs,  fluctuating  as  was 
their  interest  in  New  France  or  in  Acadia,  yet  did  much 
more  thau  the  rulers  of  England  to  aid  and  encourage  their 
infant  settlements. 

CLAIMS    OF   ENGLAND   AND   FRANCE 

It  is  true  that  England  never  abandoned  the  wide  and 
shadusvy  claims  which  recced  upon  the  discoveries  of  Cabot, 
any  more  than  France  ceased  to  press  those  based  upon  the 
explorations  of  Verrazano.  But  in  the  former  case  the 
claims  were  used  more  as  a  lever  for  checking  the  enemy's 
ambition,  or  for  obtaining  equivalents  elsewhere  in  peace 
negotiations,  than  because  England  really  wished  to  establish 
an  empire  in  the  New  World.  Hence  the  result  turned 
eventually  upon  the  character  of  the  actual  colonists,  their 
fitness  for  the  rugged  work  of  pioneer  life,  and  the  willing- 
ness with  which  the  wild  adventure,  or  uncertain  trade,  or 
the  independence  of  the  wilderness,  might  be  sought  for  by 
the  peoples  of  the  home  country.  In  this  respect  France  at 
first  took  the  lead,  and,  throughout  a  vast  extent  of  country, 
its  voyageurs  and  trappers  and  traders  swarmed  up  the  lakes 
and  rivers  and  through  the  pathless  forests,  emulating  the 
Indian  in  hunting  prowess  and  carrying  with  them  the  flag 
of  France. 

North  and  south  of  the  St.  Lawrence,  up  to  Hudson's 
Bay  and  down  the  region  watered  by  much  of  the  Mississippi, 
they  led  the  way,  and  received  the  fluctuating  support  of 
great  fur  companies  whose  fortunes  varied  with  events  of 


4-.S- 


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■■1 


THE   STORY   OF   THE    DOMINION 


state  in  Paris  and  the  chances  of  war  in  America.  The 
St.  Malo  Company  in  1599 ;  De  Monts  and  Champlain  for  a 
number  of  years  following  1603;  the  Rouen  Company 
formed  by  Champlain  in  1614,  and  its  rival,  De  Caen,  in 
1620;  the  Montmorency,  organized  from  the  union  of  the 
two  latter,  in  1622;  the  famous  Company  of  the  Hundred 
Associates,  which  largely  ruled  New  France  between  1627 
and  1663;  the  Habitants  Company  of  1645;  the  Du  Nord, 
established  at  Quebec  in  1682  for  the  purpose  of  Hudson's 
Bay  trade,  and  others,  found  full  scope  for  the  longings  of 
ambitious  and  adventurous  spirits  as  well  as  for  the  aims 
of  those  who  only  desired  a  means  of  making  money  or 
perhaps  of  wielding  power. 

With  the  hunters  and  fur-traders — many  of  the  former 
were  of  noble  name  and  high  rank — may  be  classed  in  this 
coniicction  the  Jesuits  who  sought  the  salvation  of  souls  and 
the  expansion  of  France  in  the  wilderness  of  America. 
They  were  pathfinders  of  empire  as  well  as  leaders  of  relig- 
ion, and  they  did  much  to  forward  the  interests  of  the  Most 
Christian  King;  and  would  have  done  more  had  they  not 
at  times  introduced  that  element  of  sectarian  ascendency  into 
secular  councils  which  is  always  so  disastrous  to  united 
action. 

Opposed  to  tliese  influences  of  zeal  and  energy  and  spirit 
there  was  nothing  for  a  time  but  the  slowly  growing  line  of 
scattered  settlements  along  the  coast  of  the  Atlantic  and  some 
slight  English  fishing  ixiterests  on  the  Newfoundland  coasts, 
although  further  south  Spain  was  taking  possession  of  Flor- 
ida, Mexico,  Cuba,  and  otlier  West  Indian  Islands,  and  Ber- 
muda. Moreover,  there  was  little  of  unity  in  thought  or 
character  between  the  Puritans  of  Massachusetts  and  the 
Cavaliers  of  Virginia;  to  say  nothing  of  the  Dutch  settle- 
ments in  New  York  which  were  to  ultimately  become  En- 
glish in  allegiance  and  name.  But  there  was  the  great  factor 
of  commerce  and  the  greater  natural  gift  of  a  colonizing 
spirit  in  the  English  people.  It  was  not  the  kind  of  feeling 
which  made  migration  to  New  France  probable  so  long  as 


■"1 


TPE  FRENCH   AND   ENQLLSH    WARS 


,     The 
a  for  a 
>inpany 
aen,  in 
of  the 
hundred 
n  1627 
1  Nord, 
[ud  son's 
;ing9  of 
be  aims 
oney  or 

former 
i  in  this 
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\.merica. 
of  relig- 
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they  not 
sncy  into 
united 

ad  spirit 
g  line  of 
and  some 
id  coasts, 

of  Flor- 
and  Ber- 
lought  or 

and  the 
;ch  settle- 
3ome  En- 
eat  factor 
jolonizing 
of  feeling 
,0  long  as 


there  were  abundant  chances  of  war  and  opportunities  for  a 
wandering  life,  but  the  sentiment  which  sent  a  steady  stream 
of  settlers  from  England  in  search  of  a  home  and  with  sturdy 
willingness  to  take  the  chances  of  conflict  or  the  risk  of  an 
adventurous  life  as  incident  to  the  main  object.  The  French 
built  fortresses  and  trained  soldiers,  and  excelled  in  all  the 
arts  of  skilled  hunting  and  in  the  fervor  of  religious  self-sac- 
rifice. The  English  founded  homes,  created  villages,  devel- 
oped commerce,  and  considered  all  the  rest  as  incidental  to 
a  period  which  must  in  time  pass  away  and  leave  them  the 
possessors  of  a  peaceful  soil  and  free  communities.  With 
such  characteristics  the  result,  though  hidden  from  human 
sight  at  the  time,  was  inevitable  when  once  that  thin  line  of 
English  settlement  began  to  grow  thick  and  overflow  its 
borders  north  and  west  and  south. 

EVIDENCE    OF    GROWTH    OF   ENGLISH    INFLUENCES 

Argall's  expedition  into  Acadie,  in  1612,  and  his  conquest 
of  Port  Royal,  formed  at  once  a  veiled  evidence  and  a  cer- 
tain commencement  of  this  process.  Then  came  Sir  William 
iilexander's  grant,  in  1621,  from  King  James  I,  of  the  whole 
of  Acadie;  his  effort  to  establish  a  colony  two  years  later; 
and  the  failure  which  followed  as  a  result  of  new  French 
settlements.  Charles  I  had  confirmed  this  grant  in  1628, 
and,  as  war  had  just  been  declared  against  France  on  behalf 
of  the  Huguenots,  he  despatched  an  expedition  to  capture 
New  France — of  which  substantial  territory,  with  its  shad- 
Qiwy  and  far-stretching  boundaries,  Acadie  was  supposed  to 
be  in  some  sense  a  part.  Admiral  Kirke  and  his  fleet  arrived 
during  the  summer  in  the  St.  Lawrence,  and  for  the  firit  time 
in  history  the  English  flag  swept  at  the  masthead  of  an  En- 
glish ship  between  the  shores  of  the  great  Canadian  river. 
Champlain  was  in  a  deplorable  condition  in  his  newly  built 
citadel  on  the  lofty  rock  of  Quebec,  but,  though  without  sup- 
plies, with  few  soldiers,  and  with  only  a  faint  hope  of  sup- 
port from  home,  he  refused  the  demand  to  surrender  which 
came  from  Tadoussac,  and  held  on  to  his,  as  yet,  poorly  forti- 


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THE   STORY  OF    THE   DOMINION 


fied  capital.  The  English  Admiral,  however,  encountered  a 
large  French  fleet  at  the  mouth  of  the  Saguenay  which  had 
been  sent  to  the  assistance  of  Champlain,  captured  part  of  it, 
and  destroyed  the  rest.  Satisfied  with  this  success,  he  re- 
turned to  England,  but  in  the  following  year  came  out  again 
and  found  the  French  settlement  at  Quebec  on  the  point  of 
starvation  and  under  the  necessity  of  surrender. 

During  the  three  years  following,  all  New  Frai  ce  was  in 
the  hands  of  the  English,  and  much  profit  was  found  in  the 
fur-trade;  while  a  Scotch  settlement  made  si'tisfactory  prog- 
ress at  Port  Royal,  in  Acadie.  By  the  Tre,  ty  of  St.  Ger- 
main-en-Laye,  in  1632,  however,  this  wide  Aciadian  country 
was  returned  to  France  in  exchange  for  a  sugar  island  in 
the  Pacific  and  for  some  arrears  of  money  due  the  English 
King  upon  his  wife's  dowry.  It  was  the  beginning  of  a  long 
and  shifting  panorama  of  war  and  nominal  peace,  of  rivalry 
and  struggle,  of  intrigue  and  cabal,  rl  Indian  massacre 
and  conflict.  Amid  it  all  the  clear  ambition  of  French  lead- 
ers of  the  class  of  Champlain  and  Frontenac,  or  Vaudreuil 
and  Montcalm,  shone  out  over  the  troubled  waters  of  war 
and  eorraption  in  New  France  and  made  for  success  in  their 
common  aim  of  a  great  French  Empire  in  America.  The 
prolonged  struggle  which  ensued  between  the  colonies  of 
England  and  those  of  France  did  not  run  along  the  lines  of 
the  relation  maintained  by  their  Mother-countries.  They,  of 
course,  dropped  readily  into  the  mold  cast  by  European  wars 
such  as  those  of  1666,  the  King  "William's  War  of  1689-97, 
the  Spanish  Succession  of  1702-3,  the  Austrian  Succession 
of  1742-48,  or  the  Seven  Years'  War  of  1755-63. 

But,  preceding  and  following  what  might  be  termed  the 
orthodox  wars,  were  the  irregular  ones  rising  out  of  local 
differences  and  implacable  racial  rivalries.  The  first  of  these 
were  the  Acadian  troubles  alreadv  referred  to,  and  in  which 
the  natural  instincts  of  the  different  peoples  found  some  play. 
During  the  civil  strife,  which  occurred  in  Acadie  between 
De  la  Tour  and  Charnisay,  with  all  its  picturesque  features 
and  dramatic  incidents,  Governor  Winthrop  of  Massachu- 


foi 

II( 

Fi 

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THE   FRENCH   AND   ENQLISH    WAR3 


91 


isred  a 
h  had 

of  it, 
he  re- 

again 
)int  of 

was  in 
in  the 
jr  prog- 
it.  Ger- 
jountry 
land  in 
English 
f  a  long 
rivalry 
[lassacre 
,ch  lead- 
ludreuil 
of  war 
in  their 
a.     The 
jnies  of 
lines  of 
riiey,  of 
»an  wars 
1089-97, 
Accession 

♦med  the 
of  local 
D  of  these 
in  which 
me  play, 
hetween 
features 
lassachu- 


setts  illustrated  the  situation  by  supporting  one  of  the  local 
combatants.  As  he  put  the  matter,  in  replying  to  some  one 
who  opposed  this  intervention  on  religious  grounds:  "Is  it 
more  safe,  just,  and  honorable  to  neglect  a  Providence  which 
puts  it  in  our  power  to  succor  an  unfortunate  neighbor,  at 
the  same  iiw,e  weakening  a  dangerous  enemy,  than  to  allow 
that  enemy  to  work  out  his  own  purposes?"  In  1644,  a 
short-lived  treaty  of  amity  and  peace  was  arranged  between 
Acadie  and  New  England,  and  ten  years  later  the  expedition 
intended  by  Cromwell  for  Quebec  succeeded  in  expelling  the 
French  from  St.  John  and  Port  Royal — with  some  help  from 
Massachusetts.  It  was,  in  the  land  of  the  Lilies,  a  period  of 
most  deplorable  complication,  and  it  has  been  said  that  the 
trappers  and  hunters  in  the  forests  of  Acadie  during  these 
years  recognized  at  intervals  as  their  Sovereign  the  Lord 
Protector  of  England,  the  future  King  Charles  II,  and  Louis 
XIV  of  France — sometimes  all  three! 

As  yet,  however,  the  hostility  between  the  Colonists  of 
England  and  those  of  France  had  not  reached  the  stage  of 
almost  savage  bitterness,  which  toward  the  end  of  the  cen- 
tury began  to  characterize  it,  and  was  so  greatly  intensified, 
if  not  primarily  cai^sed,  by  the  merciless  warfare  with  the 
Indians.  In  1664,  New  Netherlands  had  been  taken  by  the 
British  from  the  Dutch,  and  the  city  which  the  latter  had 
founded  e-christened  as  New  York.  La  Salle  and  Father 
Hennepin  had  explored  the  Mississippi  region  and  given  the 
French  strong  claims  to  the  vast  territory  reaching  down 
through  the  heart  of  the  continent.  Meanwhile,  both  nations 
and  both  classes  of  Colonists  weri  trying  to  obtain  and  re- 
tain the  alliance  of  the  Indians,  fcnd  to  maintain  their  su- 
premacy in  the  great  fur-trade  of  the  interior.  At  this  time, 
also,  it  must  be  remembered,  the  French  power  vastly  over- 
shadowed the  English  in  America  and  included  under  the 
sway  of  Louis  XIV  most  of  the  Hudson's  Bay  country, 
Acadie,  Canada  proper,  or  New  France,  as  it  was  usually 
designated  in  a  phrase  which  contracted  and  expanded  a  good 
deal  from  time  to  time,  much  of  Maine,  portions  of  Vermont 


n 


THE   STORY   OF   THE   DOMINION 


and  New  York,  and  the  whole  valley  of  the  Mississippi. 
Little  wonder  therefore  that  the  New  Englanders  dreaded 
the  further  expansion  of  those  whom  they  looked  upon  as 
hereditary,  if  not  natural,  enemies. 

FEANCE   DECLAKES    WAR   UPON    WILLIAM   III 

The  chronic  French  war  with  the  Iroquois — which  reached 
acute  stages  from  1633  to  1645,  from  1652  to  1654,  and 
from  1661  to  1666 — was  again  stirred  up  in  168T  by  the 
differences  of  the  Marquis  de  Denonville  of  New  France 
with  Governor  Dongan  of  New  York.  It  reached  a  white- 
heat  in  1689  when  France  declared  war  upon  William  III 
of  England,  and  it  lasted  with  fluctuating  intensity  until 
1700.  The  French-Canadian  population  at  this  time  num- 
bered about  11,000;  that  of  the  English  Colonies  was  over 
200,000.  Both  sides  prepared  for  action  and  both  sides 
sought  Indian  aid.  From  France  came  Louis  de  Buade, 
Comte  de  Frontenac,  a  man  who  in  energy,  resource,  and 
determination  was  an  army  in  himself.  From  1689  to  1698 
he  acted  as  Governor  of  New  France,  and  carried  matters 
with  as  high  a  hand  as  poverty  of  men  and  armament  and 
troublous  controversies  within  his  ovm  realm  would  permit. 
By  his  instructionB  from  the  King,  the  Hudson's  Bay  terri- 
tory was  to  be  at  once  invaded  and  the  Province  of  New 
York  overrun.  In  the  former  case,  success  came  as  a  result 
of  the  brilliance  and  dasb  of  Iberville  le  Moyne.  Mean- 
while, the  Iroquois  had  glided  in  their  light  canoes  down  the 
St.  Lawrence,  ravaged  its  shores  and  reached  the  very  gates 
of  Montreal.  On  the  other  hand,  the  Abenaquis  took  the 
part  of  the  French,  and  struck  terror  by  their  raids  along 
much  of  the  New  England  border. 

During  the  succeeding  winter  of  1689-90  Frontenac  de- 
spatched three  expeditions  of  French  troops,  assisted  by  vari- 
ous Indian  allies,  into  the  heart  of  New  York.  Schenectady 
and  the  other  positions  aimed  at  were  captured,  and  much 
of  the  country  ravaged  by  these  intrepid  but  merciless  bodies 
of  men.     They  had  marched  hundreds  of  miles  through  snow 


the 
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thii 


THE   FRENCH   AND    ENGLISH    WARS 


98 


iissippi. 
ireaded 
ipon  as 


reached 
54,  and 
by  the 
France 
a  white- 
iam  III 
ty  until 
ne  num- 
!vras  over 
»th  sides 
!  Buade, 
rce,  and 
to  1698 
matters 
aent  and 
I  permit. 
}ay  terri- 
of  New 
3  a  result 
Mean- 
down  the 
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took  the 
ids  along 

itenac  de- 
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and  much 
ess  bodies 
Dugh  snow 


;f8 


and  ice  into  the  centre  of  a  hostile  territory,  and  the  result 
illustrated  once  more  the  power  of  a  great  mind  at  the  head 
of  affairs  in  a  time  of  peril.  Frontenac  simply  compelled 
success,  and,  with  proper  support  from  France  at  this  and 
other  junctures,  might  have  changed  the  history  of  North 
America  and  of  the  world.  This  particular  incident  was, 
however,  only  a  raiding  incursion,  and  when  Frontenac 
wanted  to  really  invade  New  York  in  the  following  year, 
King  Louis  could  not  spare  tlie  troops,  and  the  Quebec  gar- 
rison of  a  few  hundred  men  was  necessarily  insufficient.  If, 
however,  Frontenac  was  unable  to  take  the  offensive,  the  men 
of  Massachusetts  were,  and  an  expedition  w&s  fitted  out  un- 
der Sir  William  Phipps  which  speedily  overran  Acadie, 
destroyed  Port  Royal,  and  annexed  the  country  to  his  own 
Province.  Frontenac  retorted  by  worrying  and  harassing 
the  frontiers  of  the  English  Colonies,  and  was  soon  able  to 
again  take  possession  of  his  much-harried  Atlantic  country. 
Meantime,  William  III  was  being  urged  to  take  an  active 
interest  in  the  American  struggle,  but,  like  King  Louis,  was 
much  too  busy  in  Europe.  New  York  and  Connecticut, 
therefore,  undertook  to  supply  a  force  for  the  overland  in- 
vasion of  New  France  and  the  capture  of  Montreal,  while 
Massachusetts  got  together  a  fleet  of  35  vessels,  with  44  guns 
and  2,000  men  for  the  siege  of  Quebec  by  sea.  The  com- 
mand of  the  latter  armament  was  given  to  Sir  William 
Phipps — a  Colonist  of  wealth,  rank,  and  romantic  experi- 
ences in  the  vivid  life  of  that  time,  who  had  already  distin- 
guished himself  in  aggressive  work.  Owing,  however,  to  mis- 
calculation as  to  the  season,  various  unexpected  delays,  and 
some  repulses  on  land  from  the  French,  the  fleet  eventually 
had  to  return  home  without  accomplishing  anything — despite 
the  quaint  remark  of  Cotton  Mather  that,  during  its  absence, 
"the  wheel  of  prayer  in  New  England  has  been  continually 
going  round."  At  the  same  time  the  land  force,  under  Greneral 
Winthrop,  had  to  retreat  from  the  banks  of  Lake  George, 
where  it  had  delayed  further  advance  until  hearing  some- 
thing of  Phipps.     The  latter  was  then  sent  to  England  for 


M 
i  I 


^ 


94 


THE   8T0BY   OF   THE  DOiflNlON  '' 


assistance,  and  the  making  of  some  arrangements  about  Pro- 
vincial charters.  He  returned  with  the  promise  of  ships  and 
his  appointment  as  Governor  of  the  United  Provinces  of 
Massachusetts,  Maine,  Plymouth,  and  Nova  Scotia;  while 
Frontenac  received  word  about  the  same  time  that  King 
Louis  would  have  sent  a  fleet  to  attack  the  English  Colonies 
had  his  means  permitted. 

In  1693,  the  British  fleet  sailed,  as  promised,  under  com- 
mand of  Sir  Francis  Wheeler,  but  on  its  way  disease  broke 
out  and  over  3,000  sailors  and  soldiers  died.  Eventually, 
the  Admiral  and  his  ships  returned  without  doing  anything. 
During  the  next  three  years  the  French  Govemor-Greneral 
succeeded  in  checking  and  chastising  the  Iroquois  and  re- 
building Fort  Frontenac,  which  had  been  previously  de- 
stroyed by  the  Colonial  forces.  He  then  planned  a  regular 
campaign,  and  it  was  opened  by  Iberville  le  Moyne  with  the 
capture  and  destruction  of  the  Fort  at  Pemaquid,  on  the 
Bay  of  Fundy — perhaps  the  strongest  possessed  by  the  En- 
glish colonies  in  all  North  America.  He  then  captured  St. 
John's,  Newfoundland,  and  with  a  few  hundred  men  over- 
ran the  Island.  From  thence  he  departed  to  the  far  Hud- 
son's Bay  territory,  and  in  a  short  time  had  taken  the  prin- 
cipal forts,  subdued  nearly  the  whole  of  the  country  with  a 
mere  handful  of  men — of  course,  the  English  population  was 
itself  very  scattered  and  small — and  returned  laden  with 
booty  in  furs  and  peltries,  and  with  a  well-deserved  reputa- 
tion for  skill  and  valor.  Later  on,  in  a  second  expedition  to 
the  same  northern  regions,  he  encountered  two  English  ships 
at  anchor  upon  the  inner  shores  of  the  Bay,  lured  the  men 
into  an  ambuscade  on  land  and  destroyed  the  vessels. 

But  the  end  of  the  prolonged  war  had  come  for  the  mo- 
ment, and,  by  the  Treaty  of  Ryswick,  in  1697,  each  nation 
returned  to  the  other  the  places  or  territory  it  had  captured. 
William  III  had  made  his  mark  in  Europe,  and  had  weak- 
ened the  immense  power  of  Louis  the  Great.  In  America, 
after  a  struggle  extending  up  the  Mississippi,  around  the 
shores  of  the  Great  Lakes^  into  the  ice-bound  regions  of  the 


ra 
wlj 
to  I 

pa 


THE   FRENCH    AND    ENGLISH    WARS 


m 


•lit  Pro- 
lips  and 
inces  of 
, ;  while 
it  King 
Colonies 

der  com- 
ise  broke 
entually, 
mything. 
r-General 
i  and  re- 
ously   de- 
a  regular 
5  with  the 
d,  on  the 
y  the  En- 
jtured  St. 
men  over- 
far  Hud- 
1  the  prin- 
try  "v/ith  a 
ilation  was 
aden  with 
7ed  reputa- 
pedition  to 
iglish  ships 
ed  the  men 
els. 

for  the  mo- 
each  nation 
id  captured. 
I  had  weak- 
In  America, 
around  the 
jgions  of  the 


1 
■•1 


I 


north,  and  along  the  stormy  shores  of  Newfoundland,  mat- 
ters were  again  demitted  to  their  former  condition.  No 
peace  made  in  Europe,  however,  could  hold  good  amid  the 
conditions  prevalent  in  America.  The  two  great  rivals  were 
striving  more  and  more  strenuously  with  every  passing  year 
for  supremacy  in  trade  and  for  the  control  of  trade  routes 
on  the  St.  Lawrence  and  the  Hudson.  To  the  French  at 
Quebec,  the  natural  policy,  and  the  one  pursued  by  La 
Salle,  by  Frontenac,  and  his  great  Intendant,  Talon,  by  De 
Courcelles,  and  by  some  of  the  later  Governors,  was  to  sur- 
round the  English  with  a  vast  combination  of  French  settle- 
ments and  forts,  and  to  restrict  tlieir  power  and  place  to  the 
small  strip  of  soil  on  the  Atlantic  Coast.  At  times,  even 
more  was  hoped  for,  and  Louis  XIV  once  gave  instructions 
for  deporting  the  English  at  New  York  in  much  the  same 
fashion  as  was  afterward  actually  applied  to  the  French  of 
Acadie.  Upon  the  other  hand,  the  English  policy  was  nat- 
urally one  of  cooping  the  French  up  in  the  valley  of  the  St. 
Lawrence,  and  thus  checking  their  enterprising  expansion 
north  and  south.  In  this  aim  the  English  Colonies,  of 
course,  were  tremendously  helped  by  the  bitter  hostility  of 
the  Iroquois  to  the  French  name  and  nationality. 

The  Treaty  of  Ryswick  only  lasted  five  years,  and  then 
the  War  of  the  Spanish  Succession  commenced,  with  Eng- 
land, Austria,  and  Holland  pitted  against  France  and  Spain. 
It  was  a  glorious  war  for  England,  though  one  of  varieu  fail- 
ures and  successes  in  America.  British  victories  at  Blen- 
heim, Oudenarde,  Ramillies,  and  Malplaquet  rang  through 
Europe  like  a  long-sustained  peal  of  thunder  from  a  stormy 
sky,  and  the  echo  in  North  America  indicated,  at  last,  the 
line  of  ultimate  success  in  the  great  struggle  for  a  continent. 
At  first,  the  war  in  the  New  World  was  the  old  story  of  petty 
raids,  cruel  surprises,  and  Indian  forays.  Massachusetts 
whale-boats  harassed  the  Acadian  coasts ;  a  Boston  fleet  tried 
to  capture  Port  Royal,  but  failed;  Hertel  was  sent  by  De 
Vaudreuil,  the  Governor  of  New  France,  with  a  mixed  war 
party  of  French  and  Indians,  and  succeeded  in  surprising 


96 


THE   S2VRY    OF   THE  DOMINION 


and  destroying  the  inhabitants  of  the  little  English  village 
of  Haverhill,  on  the  Merrimac;  schemes  were  laid  for  the 
invasion  of  ^ew  York,  and  rival  preparations  made  for  the 
conquest  of  New  Franco ;  the  Iroquois  played  off  one  nation- 
ality against  the  other,  and  profited  by  the  enhanced  antag- 
onisms. 


H*. 


AN    AGQEESSIVE   FRINGE   OF   BBITISH    COLONIES 


Finally,  in  1709,  Colonel  Nicholson,  an  able  English  offi- 
cer, organized  an  expedition  of  ships  and  Colonial  troops 
for  the  capture  of  Quebec.  When  ready,  however,  the  sea- 
son was  too  far  advanced,  and  he  led  it  to  the  coasts  of 
Acadie,  where  for  the  last  time  Port  Royal  was  taken  and 
its  name  changed  to  Annapolis  Royal.  Acadie  fell  easily 
into  his  hands,  and,  with  the  later  appearance  of  fifteen  men- 
of-war  under  Admiral  Sir  Hovenden  Walker — bearing  a 
number  of  Marlborough's  fighting  regiments  for  the  capture 
of  the  great  French  fortress  on  the  St.  Lawrence — it  really 
seemed  as  if  the  knell  of  French  power  had  rung  in  America. 
In  the  following  spring  Walker  sailed  from  Boston  for  Que- 
bec, and  Nicholson  marched  overland  to  Lake  Champlain. 

But  the  former  proved  an  utterly  incapable  ofiicer  and 
leader,  and,  after  a  series  of  mishaps  and  mistakes,  left  half 
his  ships  on  the  reefs  of  the  St.  Lawrence,  and  carried  the 
shreds  of  a  one-time  reputation  back  to  England.  Nichol- 
son had  to  return  in  rag'i  and  disgust  to  Boston,  while  the 
churches  of  New  France  were  filled  with  paeans  of  gratitude 
over  this  narrow  and  unexpected  escape  at  a  time  of  great 
internal  weakness  and  distress.  In  three  years  peace  came 
at  Utrecht,  and,  this  time,  England  returned  nothing  and 
received  much.  Acadie,  Newfoundland,  the  Hudson's  Bay 
territory,  and  St.  Kitts  in  the  West  Indies  were  surrendered 
by  France,  although  Cape  Breton — then  known  as  Isle  Royal 
— the  Island  of  St.  John  (now  Prince  Edward  Island)  and 
other  places  in  the  Gulf  at  St.  Lawrence  were  still  retained. 

It  was  really  the  beginning  of  the  end,  and,  instead  of  re- 
stricting  and  hemming   in   the   English   settlements,   New 


THE   FRENCH    AND   ENGLISH    WARS 


97 


a 


France  was  now  met  on  the  north,  the  east,  and  partly  on  the 
south,  by  an  aggrcBsivo  fringe  of  growing  British  Colonies. 
She  still,  however,  held  the  gates  of  the  two  great  waterways 
and  the  mighty  inland  seas  of  the  continent  lirraly  in  her 
grasp,  and  guarded  the  possibilities  of  the  boundless  west. 
The  future  seemed  by  no  means  hopeless.  Hence  the  plots 
among  tlie  Acadians ;  the  building  of  a  strong  fort  at  Niagara 
and  of  a  rival  English  one  at  Oswego;  the  creation  of  the 
great  fortifications  at  Louisbourg  and  the  preparations  to 
hold  the  mouth  of  the  St.  Lawrence  against  all  comers  and 
to  recover  Acadie ;  the  effort  to  colonize  the  far  west  and  De 
la  Verendrye's  explorations  in  that  direction ;  the  building 
of  a  French  fort  at  the  head  of  Lake  Champlain — the  after- 
ward famous  Crown  Point.  Peace  in  a  sort  of  fashion 
lasted,  however,  until  1740,  when  the  war  of  the  Austrian 
Succession  began,  and  gave  an  opportunity  to  France  and 
England  to  once  more  meet  in  deadly  struggle.  Nominally 
it  was  over  the  accession  of  Maria  Theresa  to  the  throne  of 
Austria;  practically  it  was  an  effort  by  France  and  Spain  to 
crush  the  external  empire  of  England  and  sweep  to  the  pit 
of  destruction  her  growing  commerce.  The  event  materially 
and  immediately  affected  matters  in  America. 

The  French  Governor  of  Louisbourg,  in  Cape  Breton, 
quickly  decided  to  capture  Annapolis,  and  for  this  purpose 
invaded  Nova  Scotia,  took  possession  of  minor  settlements 
and  laid  siege  to  the  English  capital.  For  weeks  he  main- 
tained his  ground,  but  the  commander,  Paul  Mascarene,  was 
a  vigorous  and  determined  leader,  and  the  timely  arrival  of 
reinforcements  compelled  the  French  to  withdraw.  In  re- 
turn for  the  courtesy  of  this  attack,  Governor  Shirley,  of 
Massachusetts,  organized  an  expedition  of  4,000  farmers  and 
merchants,  together  with  a  small  fleet,  for  the  capture  of 
Louisbourg — then  one  of  the  most  powerful  fortifications  in 
the  world,  and  held  by  trained  and  experienced  soldiers  un- 
der Duel  bou,  an  officer  of  good  reputation.  William 
Pepperell,  a  man  of  immense  courage  and  resourceful  ability, 
but  with  no  military  experience,  was  appointed  to  the  com- 

DOMINIOM— 5 


!   i 

1 


\\ 


THE   STORY   OF   THE   DOM  1  y ION 


1 


mand.  After  swift  preparations  and  rapid  movements,  he 
reached  Cai;;?o,  a  place  not  far  from  the  fortress,  with  his 
expedition,  and  was  there  joined  by  Commodore  Warren 
with  four  English  battleships.  Early  on  the  following  morn- 
ing the  army  of  volunteers  was  in  front  of  a  place  which  a 
French  officer  had  once  declared  could  be  held  by  an  army 
of  women  against  assault. 

Details  of  the  siege  which  followed  consist  of  incidents 
of  steady  and  brave  attack,  of  ceaseless  cannonading  and 
the  continuous  repulse  of  the  garrison's  sorties,  of  final 
assault  and  victory.  The  surrender  was  the  occasion  of  wild 
acclaim  and  rejoicing  throughout  New  England,  of  utter 
dismay  in  New  France,  of  determinations  at  Paris  to  regain 
the  all-important  place.  Two  great  fleets  were  des'patched 
for  this  purpose.  One,  of  thirty-nine  men-of-war,  met  with 
almost  countless  misfortunes  and  had  to  return  with  only  a 
remnant  of  ships  and  men.  The  other,  in  1747,  was  met 
oil  Cape  Finisterre,  in  the  Bay  of  Biscay,  and  was  utterly 
annihilated  by  Admiral  Axison.  In  the  succeeding  year 
peace  was  formally  made  at  Aix-la-Chapelle,  and  France, 
which  had  upon  the  whole  been  successful  in  Europe  and 
had  won  from  England  the  rich  plains  of  Madras,  was  able 
to  recover  Louisbourg  in  exchange  for  its  Indian  conquest- — 
to  the  intense  chagrin  of  New  England  and  New  York. 

The  peace,  however,  was  only  nominal.  The  boundaries 
of  Nova  Scotia  formed  an  easy  and  continuous  subject  of 
dispute  in  America,  while  Clive  and  Dupleix  kept  up  an 
open  war  in  India,  with  ultimate  victory  to  the  former. 
Do  la  Gallissoniere  was  now  Governor-General  on  the  banks 
of  the  St.  Lawrence  and  all  his  activity  and  skill  were  de- 
voted  to  the  strengthening  of  French  power.  He  claimed 
New  Brunswick  and  Eastern  Maine  as  French-Canadian  ter- 
ritory, maintained  forts  along  the  frontiers  of  the  Nova 
Scotian  peninsula,  marked  a  boundary  line  down  the  valley 
of  the  Ohio,  and  restricted  English  trade  in  all  this  im- 
mense region.  The  English,  meanwhile,  founded  Halifax, 
brought  out  settlers  to  Nova  Scotia,  expelled  the  bulk  of 


w. 


m 


THE   FRENCH   AND   ENGLISH    WAR3 


99 


the  'Acadians  for  intriguing  with  the  French  authorities 
at  Quebec,  and  captured  Fort  Beausejour  on  the  border  of 
the  Province. 

FIGHTING   IN    THE    FORESTS 

Duquesne,  who  succeeded  De  la  Galliasoniere,  pushed 
the  clpims  and  power  of  France  in  the  west  with  equal 
vigor.  After  the  failure  of  a  Joint  Commission  which  sat 
in  Paris  to  try  and  determine  the  boundaries  of  the  Ohio 
region,  he  built  several  new  forts  and  strengthened  the  old 
ones,  meanwhile  winning  the  alliance  of  many  tribes  of 
Western  Indians.  To  meet  this  aggressive  policy,  the  Col- 
onists south  of  Nova  Scotia  sent  a  notable  protest  by  a 
youth  named  George  Washington.  He  was  courteously  re- 
ceived but  did  not  obtain  satisfaction  or  practical  result. 
Then  they  organized  the  Ohio  Company  for  the  purpose 
of  trading  in  tL.e  disputed  country — with  or  without  leave 
— and  built  a  fort  at  the  junction  of  the  Monongahela  and 
Allegheny  Rivers.  A  French  expedition  promptly  destroyed 
it  and  erected  a  stronger  one  which  was  named  after  the 
Governor  at  Quebec.  Governor  Dinwiddie  of  Virginia,  with 
equal  promptitude,  at  once  sent  a  force  under  Washington 
to  drive  out  the  French.  It  was  met  by  a  small  contingent 
which  was  cut  to  pieces,  but  the  whole  expedition  was  shortly 
afterward  surrounded  by  the  enemy  in  such  numbers  aa 
to  force  surrender  of  the  temporary  intrenchments  thrown 
up  by  Washington.  The  latter  was  allowed,  however,  to 
retire  with  his  men  and  to  return  home  with  all  the  honors 
of  war.    Fort  Duquesne  was  still  safe  in  the  hands  of  France. 

In  1754,  two  English  regiments  were  sent  out  under  Gen- 
eral Braddock,  while  France  despatched  a  larger  force  under 
Baron  Dieskau,  at  the  urgent  request  of  the  Marquis  de 
Vaudreuil,  who  was  now  Governor-General  at  Quebec. 
Both  Powers  protested  against  the  thought  of  war,  while 
Braddock  proceeded  to  plan  the  reduction  of  Forts  Du- 
quesne, Crown  Point,  *ind  Niagara.  During  the  following 
summer  he  led  an  expedition  of  2,000  soldiers  and  Colonial 


100 


THE   STORY   OF   THE   DOMINION 


militia  throngh  the  forests  of  the  west  toward  Duqiiesne.  In 
the  defiles  of  the  Monongahela  Valley,  however,  his  force  was 
surprised  by  ambushed  Indians  and  a  force  of  200  French- 
men, who,  unseen  and  unharmed  by  answering  bullets,  poured 
doAvn  an  appalling  storm  of  shot  upon  the  helpless  troops. 
Braddock  was  killed.  Washington  had  two  horses  shot  under 
him  and  his  clothes  riddled  with  bullets,  and,  finally,  some 
600  shamed  and  beaten  troops  escaped  from  the  scene  of  the 
disaster.  An  expedition  projected  by  Governor  Shirley 
against  Niagara  was  at  once  abandoned,  though  Colonel 
Johnson  of  Indian  fame  gathered  a  force  of  Mohawk  warriors 
and  Colonial  volunteers  and  advanced  toward  Crown  Point. 
Baron  Dieskau,  with  his  French  troops,  encountered  the  in- 
vaders at  Lake  George,  fourteen  miles  from  Fort  Edward 
— a  new  English  fortification  on  the  Hudson. 

The  impetuous  French  leader  dashed  his  men  against  the 
temporary  barricade  of  logs  and  English  guns  which  barred 
the  way,  but  in  vain,  and,  after  being  himself  severely 
wounded  and  captured,  the  repulse  became  an  utter  rout. 
Thus,  within  a  few  years,  two  European  commande^^  of 
different  nations,  had  been  defeated  through  refusal  to 
understand  or  accept  the  peculiar  conditions  of  Ameri- 
can warfare.  Johnson  had,  of  course,  retained  his  position, 
and,  without  advancing  further,  he  proceeded  to  mark  the 
victory  by  establishing  a  strong  post  which  he  called  Fort 
William  Henry.  He  was  afterward  made  a  baronet  and 
lived  to  impress  his  name  deeply  upon  subsequent  English 
relations  vdth  the  Indian  tribes. 

At  the  close  of  the  year  1755  therefore,  and  at  the  be- 
ginning of  the  Seven  Years'  War  in  Europe,  the  French 
were  triumphant  in  the  west,  beaten  back  in  Acadie,  and 
checked  on  Lake  George.  In  the  final  struggle  for  su- 
premacy which  now  began,  England  had  Frederick  the 
Great  of  Prussia  as  an  ally,  and  France,  Russia,  Austria, 
and  many  minor  States  as  antagonists.  Out  of  this  conflict 
she  came  gloriously  triumphant.  On  the  plains  of  Ilindo- 
8tan  and  thrpughout  the  wilds  of  America,  her  flag  floated 


THE   FRENCH   AND   ENGLISH   WABS 


101 


In 


in  final  victory;  while  the  tireless  Frederick  maintained  his 
grim  and  memorable  contest  in  Europe.  But  the  first  years 
of  the  war  in  America  were  not  very  bright.  Braddock's 
defeat  had  left  the  boi-ders  of  more  than  one  English  Colony 
open  and  subject  to  relentless  Indian  raids.  Local  trouble 
and  constitutional  disputes — ^prrphetic  of  a  not  distant  future 
— -came  to  a  head  in  some  of  the  Provinces,  and  Pennsyl- 
vania, while  squabbling  with  its  Governor,  refused  to  protect 
its  own  frontier.  France,  meanwhile,  had  scored  instant 
and  early  success  by  sending  out  the  gallant  Marquis  de 
Montcalm  to  command  its  forces;  England  did  the  reverse 
by  despatching  the  Earl  of  Loudoun  and  General  Aber- 
crombie.  The  French  leader  and  Governor  had  not  more 
than  reached  Quebec,  in  1755,  before  he  began  operations 
by  capturing  and  destroying  Fort  Oswego — the  English  base 
for  a  projected  attack  on  Niagara.  Then  he  hastened  up 
to  Lake  Champlain  and  intrenched  himself  in  Fort  Ticon- 
deroga.  By  these  rapid  moves  he  secured  the  west  for  the 
moment  and  fastened  the  gates  of  entrance  to  the  region 
afterward  known  as  Lower  Canada,  or  Quebec. 

Meantime,  Lord  Loudoun  talked  and  did  nothing.  In 
1757,  however,  he  started  for  Halifax  on  the  way  to  attack 
Louisbourg,  but,  unlike  the  gallant  Pepperell  in  a  previous 
campaign,  he  wasted  months  of  precious  time  in  spectacular 
preparations — until  the  place  itself  was  strongly  reinforced 
and  twenty-two  men-of-war  were  guarding  the  entrance  to 
its  harbor.  Seeing  Loudoun  hundreds  of  miles  away,  where 
he  was  comparatively  harmless,  in  his  game  of  playing  at 
war,  Montcalm  promptly  sallied  out  of  Ticonderoga  and  laid 
siege  to  Fort  William  Henry,  with  some  6,000  men.  Owing 
to  the  cowardice  of  the  English  commander  at  neighboring 
Fort  Edward,  who  had  3,600  men  under  him,  the  garrison 
was  ultimately  compelled  to  surrender  upon  a  pledge  of 
safety  against  the  Indians  and  with  the  right  of  marching 
unarmed  to  the  nearby  British  post.  But  Montcalm  was 
^unable  to  bind  his  savage  allies,  and,  to  his  lasting  sorrow, 
the  glades  of  the  'orest  suddenly  rang  with  the  Indian  war- 


102 


THE   STORY   OF   THE   DOMINION 


whoop  and  the  soil  soon  ran  red  with  the  blood  of  English 
men,  women,  and  children.  Short  of  calling  out  his  own 
troops  to  shoot  down  the  Indians,  Montcalm  and  his  officers 
did  everything  that  men  could  do  to  check  the  slaughter; 
but  the  Commander's  failure  to  defend  his  helpless  prisoners 
with  his  whole  force  remains  a  stain  upon  an  otherwise  noble 
character  and  career. 

END  OF  THE  HISTOEIC  STEUGGLB 

The  end,  however,  of  the  whole  historic  struggle  was  now 
at  hand.  External  as  well  as  internal  events  controlled  the 
result,  and  perhaps  the  chief  of  the  former  was  the  accession 
of  William  Pitt  to  power  in  England  at  this  moment  of 
greatest  triumph  to  the  French  in  America.  Almost  in  an 
instant  the  change  came.  Pitt,  like  all  great  rulers,  or  states- 
men, recognized  that  the  success  of  a  war,  a  campaign,  or 
a  battle  frequently  depends  upon  the  men  who  lead  rather 
than  upon  the  soldiers  themselves — important  as  the  latter 
must  always  be  in  character  and  stamina.  General  Sir  Jef- 
frey (afterward  Field  Marshal  Lord)  Amherst,  a  skilful  and 
cautious  officer  of  much  experience,  Major-General  James 
Wolfe,  a  dashing  and  enthusiastic  soldier  who  had  already 
won  the  keen  appreciation  of  the  Great  Commoner,  and 
Admiral  Boscawen,  a  brave  and  experienced  sailor,  were 
despatched  in  1758  with  an  army  and  fleet  to  reduce  Louis- 
bourg  and  capture  Quebec.  ..;•.: 

Within  the  walls  of  the  great  arsenal  of  strength  on 
Cape  Breton  now  centred  much  of  French  power  and  pres- 
tige in  the  New  World.  Four  thousand  citizens  lived  be- 
hind its  mighty  ramparts  and  3,000  regular  troops  guarded 
what  was  now  supposed  to  be  an  impregnable  position.  The 
attempt  to  take  it  was  made,  however,  with  a  degree  of 
dash  and  military  and  naval  skill  which  marked  the  selec- 
tions made  by  Pitt  as  an  actual  stroke  of  genius.  Pep- 
perell's  original  plan  was  to  some  extent  followed  by  Am- 
herst, and,  after  a  heavy  siege,  during  which  occurred  a  con- 
stant interchange  of  courtesies  between  the  leaders  as  well 


tm 


'A 


THE   FRENCH   AND   ENGLISH    WAR3 


103 


Is 


-A 


or 


as  the  free  exchange  of  shot  and  shell,  the  gallant  Chevalier 
de  Drucour  was  finally  compelled  to  surrender  the  surviving 
half  of  his  garrison  and  the  still  frowning  walls  of  his  fortress. 
With  the  surrender  went  all  Cape  Breton  and  Prince  Ed- 
ward Island,  while  the  great  fortalice  itself  was  leveled  to 
the  ground  after  months  of  labor.  So  well  was  the  work 
of  destruction  done  that,  to-day,  grass  grows  plentifully  over 
the  almost  vanished  line  of  earthworks,  and  the  erstwhile 
scene  of  war  and  tumult  and  roaring  cannon  has  become 
one  of  quiet  pastoral  peace  and  beauty.  •       •  ^ 

The  garrison  was  sent  to  England  as  prisoners  of  war, 
and  Amherst,  through  the  prolongation  of  the  siege,  was 
compelled  to  defer  aggressive  action  against  Quebec  until 
the  next  season.  Meantime,  in  the  west,  Abercrorabie  had 
hurled  15,000  men  against  Montcalm  in  Ticonderoga,  but 
the  breastwork  of  stakes  and  logs  and  trees  proved  invulner- 
able even  to  the  claymores  of  the  Highlanders  and  the  dogged 
obstinacy  of  English  charges.  After  leaving  2,000  dead  in 
front  of  the  enemy  the  English  general  retired  again  to 
Fort  William  Henry. 

Elsewhere,  Bradstreet  was  more  successful,  and,  with  a 
force  of  Colonial  militia,  crossed  Lake  Ontario  and  surprised 
and  captured  Fort  Frontenac,  with  its  rich  stores  and  a 
number  of  French  lake  vessels.  A  little  later,  in  November, 
1758,  General  Forbes  c  mpelled  the  surrender  of  Fort  Du- 
quesne,  and,  in  its  place,  erected  Fort  Pitt — the  famous 
Pittsburg  of  a  very  different  scene  and  era.  And  now 
the  final  act  of  this  great  drama  of  moving  war  was  to 
come  on  the  stage  of  destiny.  In  the  spring  three  English 
expeditions  were  organized.  General  Prideaux  and  Sir  Wil- 
liam Johnson  advanced  upon  and  captured  Fort  Niagara  and 
defeated  the  French  relieving  force.  General  Amherst 
marched  to  Lake  George,  forced  the  French  to  blow  up 
Ticonderoga  and  retreat  upon  Crown  Point,  whence,  through 
their  ships,  they  still  maintained  supremacy  on  Lake  Cham- 
plain.  The  English  commander  spent  the  summer  in  build- 
ing ships  to  meet  his  enemy  with — a  sure  bu    slow  method 


i 


104 


THE   STORY   OF  THE  DOMINION 


of  capturing  victory  which  gave  mich  pleasure  to  the  active 
mind  of  the  lately  beleaguered  Montcalm. 

WOLFE  AND  MONTCALM 

■*  , 

Wolfe  and  Montcalm,  meanwhile,  were  preparing  for  their 
face  to  face  and  final  struggle.  The  former's  army  before 
Quebec  consisted  of  some  9,000  carefully  selected  troops, 
with  Moncton,  Townshend,  and  Murray  as  Brigadiers-Gen- 
eral, and  with  the  co-operation  of  a  strong  fleet  under 
Admiral  Saunders.  Montcalm  had  about  15,000  regulars 
and  a  thousand  Indians.  It  was  a  tremendous  undertaking 
for  the  English  commander.  The  frowning  and  apparently 
impregnable  ramparts  of  Quebec,  bristling  over  the  great 
cliffs  of  the  St.  Lawrence,  and  crowded  with  the  gallant 
soldiery  of  France  under  the  skilled  leadership  of  a  grer* 
general,  might  well  have  proclaimed  it  an  impossible  one. 
Wolfe's  plan,  at  first,  was  to  tempt  his  opponent  out  to 
battle,  and  for  this  purpose  he  divided  his  forces  and  built 
various  redoubts  and  fortified  points  from  which  he  could 
harass  the  defenders  with  shot  and  shell  and  gradually  batter 
down  the  walls  of  the  city.  And,  though  not  successful  in 
drawing  Montcalm  from  his  stronghold,  he  did  seriously 
weaken  his  outer  defences.  Meantime,  however,  the  sum- 
mer was  passing  and  Wolfe  knew  something  of  the  winter 
experiences  of  others  who  had  attempted  and  failed  in  the 
game  task. 

Spurred  on  by  these  and  other  considerations  he  made 
one  desperate  attack  upon  the  Beauport  lines,  behind  the 
trenches  of  which  lay  the  serried  masses  of  Montcalm.  But 
it  was  useless,  and  he  withdrew  after  the  loss  of  500  of  his 
men.  Autumn  came  and  hope  grew  high  in  the  hearts  of  the 
besieged.  Wolfe  was  ill,  food  was  growing  scarce,  his  men 
were  becoming  hopeless,  the  spirit  of  success  seemed  to  have 
gone  from  the  enterprise.  Then  came  the  forlorn  hope  and 
the  secret  advance  up  the  Heights  of  Abraham.  Discovery 
of  the  movement  meant  the  annihilation  of  the  English  force ; 
Buccess  meant  the  facing  of  an  army  twice  its  size  and  in  the 


THE   FRENCH   AND    ENGLISH    WARS 


106 


best  of  health  and  spirits.  But  the  plan  succeeded,  and,  as 
morning  broke  on  the  13th  of  September,  1759,  the  British 
troops  stood  upon  the  Plains  and  faced  at  last  the  army  of 
France.  Charging  at  the  head  of  his  Grenadiers,  Wolfe 
was  fatally  wounded,  and  died  with  the  sounds  of  success 
ringing  in  his  ear.  In  the  rout  which  ensued  Montcalm  was 
also  mortally  wounded  and  died  on  the  following  day.  On 
the  17th  of  September  the  Lilies  of  France  were  hauled  down 
from  the  great  ramparts  and  the  Standard  of  England  and 
her  Empire  hoisted  in  their  place. 

This  was  practically  the  end.  De  Levis  succeeded  to  the 
French  command  and  made  a  gallant  effort  to  recover  the 
lost  ground.  Upon  the  battlefield  of  St.  Foye  he  defeated 
Murray,  who  had  replaced  Wolfe,  and,  had  the  expected 
French  fleet  arrived  with  reinforcements  before  the  English, 
might  have  put  a  different  face  upon  affairs.  But  the  re- 
verse was  the  case  and  he  fell  back  upon  Montreal.  In  Sep- 
tember, 1760,  De  Levis  there  found  himself  hemmed  in  by 
17,000  British  troops,  and,  in  the  ensuing  capitulation,  De 
Vaudreuil  as  the  last  Governor-General  of  New  France,  sur- 
rendered the  whole  country.  The  Treaty  of  Paris,  on  10th 
February,  1763,  closed  the  struggle  of  centuries,  and  by  it 
a  continent  practically  passed  into  the  hands  of  England. 
Spain  gave  up  Florida,  and  France  surrendered  everything 
in  America  except  Louisiana  (which  a  little  later  she  ceded 
to  Spain),  the  Islands  of  St.  Pierre  and  Miquelon,  and  certain 
fishing  privileges  in  Newfoundland.  England  was  thus  made 
mistress  of  the  western  world  of  North  America  at  the  mo- 
ment she  had  become  the  dominant  Power  in  the  old  eastern 
lands  of  Hindostan. 

The  American  struggle  had  been  a  peculiar  one.  The 
civilized  races  engaged  in  it  were  alike  brave  and  neither 
was  naturally  cruel.  Yet,  through  their  Indian  alliances, 
the  conflict  had  been  often  marked  by  uncivilized  and  bar- 
baric actions.  New  France  had  been  greatly  hampered  by 
indifference  at  home,  and  in  later  years  by  the  criminal  cor- 
ruption of  its  officials  and  general  misgovernment — a  situa- 


106 


THE  BTOBY   OF  THE  DOMimON 


tion  which  all  the  skill  and  force  and  honesty  of  Montcalm 
could  not  overcome  or  even  greatly  modify,.  The  whole 
system  of  French  Canada  in  the  last  half  century  of  its 
existence  had  been  steeped  in  corruption  and  charged  with 
the  weakness  of  certain  disintegration.  Still,  with  all  the 
faults  of  their  leaders,  and  despite  these  fatal  difficulties,  it 
had  been  a  gallant  and  brilliant  exploit  for  60,000  French- 
men— all  that  there  were  in  New  France  at  the  close  of  the 
regime — to  face  an  ever-increasing  volume  of  English  popu- 
lation and  to  hold,  for  over  a  century,  the  vast  territory  they 
had  so  well  defended  against  Iroquois  savages  as  well  as 
English  enemies. 

Of  course,  the  latter  had  their  own  troubles,  and,  if  their 
population  in  1759  numbered  a  million  and  a  quarter  souls, 
it  was  none  the  less  a  divided  and  scattered  people,  with 
many  indications  of  the  coming  stress  of  internal  storm  and 
revolution.  The  end  of  the  international  duel,  as  fought 
around  the  walls  of  Quebec,  was  a  glorious  one,  as  had 
been  a  myriad  instances  of  individual  heroism  and  collective 
conflict  during  its  progress.  Beside  it,  now,  all  other  con- 
tests of  the  time  seem  dwarfed  in  the  immensity  of  the  issues 
involved  and  in  the  vast  field  over  which  tho  contestants 
fought.  In  its  result  this  war  of  a  century  and  a  half  paved 
the  way  for  the  establishment  of  the  Dominion  of  Canada 
as  the  American  bulwark  of  the  British  Empire  and  of  the 
United  States  as  one  of  the  great  Powers  of  the  modem  world. 


.-.  / 


'fl'-'V 


"      '        '      CHAPTER   VI  - 

nvr         ^iY^    eOLONIAL  RIVALRY  A2VZ)  REVOLUTION  ?^ii 

JAMES  RUSSELL  LOWELL  has  said  that  the  British 
conquest  of  Canada  made  the  United  States  possible. 
It  certainly  removed  from  the  Thirteen  Colonies  the 
northern  shadow  of  military  force  and  racial  hostility  which 
had  so  long  menaced  their  homes  and  hampered  their  com- 


COLONIAL   RIVALRY   AND   REVOLUTION 


mercial  progress  and  territorial  expansion.  It  averted  the 
possibility  of  France  some  day  waking  up  to  the  real  great- 
ness of  her  position  in  North  America,  and  so  strengthening 
her  continental  resources  as  to  enable  the  almost  impregnable 
heights  of  Quebec  to  dominate  the  future  of  a  large  part  of 
America  and  control  the  development  of  a  powerful  French 
State  reaching  down  into  the  heart  of  the  continent,  and  per- 
haps in  time  joining  hands  with  Spain  in  Florida  and  Louisi- 
ana. It  increased  the  growing  spirit  of  independence  among 
the  English  colonists,  and  the  feeling  that  they  could  do  with- 
out British  troops  and  British  protection  should  occasion 
arise. 

IMPORT  OF  ENGLISH  CONQUEST  OF  CANADA 

The  victory  of  Wolfe  at  Quebec,  therefore,  which  gave 
nearly  a  whole  continent  to  Great  Britain,  really  contrib- 
uted in  an  indirect  way  to  the  loss  of  the  Thirteen  Colonies. 
The  bonfires  which  then  illumined  the  coasts  and  settlements 
of  New  England,  and  lit  the  market-places  of  New  York 
and  Philadelphia  with  the  light  of  a  great  rejoicing,  were 
the  last  of  their  kind  in  American  history,  and,  in  the  cap- 
ture of  the  army  of  Cornwallis  at  Saratoga,  France  obtained 
her  revenge  for  the  defeat  of  Montcalm  on  the  Heights  of 
Quebec. 

With  the  close  of  the  prolonged  war  against  France  in 
'America,  of  which  the  Seven  Years'  War  in  Europe  was 
really  an  incident  so  far  as  England  was  concerned,  the  En- 
glish Colonies  began  to  develop  grievances  and  discover  diffi- 
culties in  their  relations  with  the  Motherland.  Had  a  spirit 
of  consideration  prevailed  on  either  hand,  had  the  Mother- 
country  known  more  of  conditions  in  the  Colonies,  or  had 
the  latter  felt  the  loyalty  toward  the  Crown  which  the  Colo- 
nies in  another  century  have  felt,  the  Revolution  would  never 
have  taken  place.  But  it  is  usually  forgotten  that  the  people 
of  these  regions  were,  with  certain  exceptions,  not  mo- 
narchical in  their  convictions,  nor  particularly  kindly  in 
sentiment  toward  the  institutions  of  the  Motherland. 


108 


TBE   STORY   OF   THE  DOMINION 


THE    CLASSES    REMAINED    LOYAL 

The  classes  were  so,  and  the  classes  remained  loyal  to  the 
end,  and  became  the  bone  and  sinew  of  the  English-speaking 
population  of  early  Can.  la  and  Acadie.  The  masses,  how- 
ever, had  originally  been  largely  composed  of  emigrants  who 
had  left  their  country  for  various  reasons  of  extreme  discon- 
tent— such  as  the  Quakers  of  Pennsylvania  and  the  Puri- 
tans of  New  England — and  had  brought  with  them  an  in- 
nate republican  spirit  and  a  certain  contempt  for  the  forms 
of  government  under  which  they  had  admittedly  suffered 
much.  It  only  required  the  increased  self-confidence  of  a 
pioneer  life,  and  the  friction  of  unpleasant  controversies,  to 
prove  as  tinder  to  the  torch  of  agitation  and  as  fire  to  the 
rumble  of  rebellion.  Yet  it  must  be  said  that,  with  all  this 
ready  material  and  with  the  now  admitted  grievances  of  the 
Colonists;  with  the  Stamp  Act  and  the  taxation  without 
representation  question ;  with  all  the  arrogance  of  British 
officers  and  the  incapacity  of  British  generals  and  statesmen ; 
there  was  not,  in  1775,  a  clear  majority  in  favor  of  actual 
war.  A  strong  minority  was  opposed  to  it,  while  another 
section  may  be  classed  as  indifferent;  and  there  were  many 
times,  even  after  the  Declaration  of  Independence,  when 
skilled  statecraft  and  good  generalship  combined  on  the  part 
of  the  British  might  have  turned  the  rebels  into  a  really 
small  minority  of  the  population.  But  many  of  the  latter 
had  strong  convictions,  a  great  leader  in  the  person  of  Wash- 
ington, and  all  the  influences  of  such  fire-brand  oratory  as 
that  of  Patrick  Henry,  the  slave-holder  of  the  South,  when 
he  cried  to  the  heavens  above  him :  ''Give  me  liberty  or  give 
me  death!" 

However,  the  Revolution  came,  and  with  it  results  of  the 
most  important  character  to  the  great  Province  of  Quebec, 
which  had  been  recently  expanded  and  reorganized  by  the 
Quebec  Act  of  1774.  By  this  measure  the  limits  of  the 
Province  had  been  extended  to  cover  French  settlers  and 
settlements  along  the  shores  of  the  Great  Lakes,  between 


fWi 


COLONIAL    RIVALRY   AND    REVOLUTION 


109 


Lake  Erie  and  the  Ohio  River,  and  from  there  and  Lake 
Michigan  to  the  Mississippi,  as  well  as  north  to  the  Red 
River  and  Lake  Winnipeg  in  the  present  Province  of  Mani- 
toba. This  policy  provoked  strong  protests  from  the  now 
disaffected  English  Colonies,  as  did  that  part  of  the  Act 
which  provided  for  freedom  of  worship  among  the  French- 
Canadian  Catholics.  By  no  means  the  smallest  of  the  griev- 
ances alleged  by  the  Continental  Congress  of  1774  was  this 
establishment  of  a  Roman  Catholic  Province  to  the  north 
and  its  extension  southward. 

The  extreme  Protestantism  of  New  England  was  up  in 
arms,  and  the  resentful  rivalry  resulting  from  a  century  of 
fitful  war  with  the  French  along  the  St.  Lawrence  and  the 
Great  Lakes  was  stirred  into  a  storm  which  found  expression 
in  the  course  of  an  Address  to  the  people  of  England  passed 
by  the  Congress  at  Philadelphia  on  September  5,  1774. 
After  references  to  the  arbitrary  rule  from  which  the  French 
Canadians  were  said  to  suffer — and  which  was  absolute  li- 
cence in  comparison  to  the  liberty  accorded  them  by  France 
— the  protest  read  as  follows:  "Nor  can  we  suppress  our  as- 
tonishment that  a  British  Parliament  should  ever  consent  to 
establish  in  that  country  a  religion  that  has  deluged  your 
island  with  blood  and  dispersed  impiety,  bigotry,  persecu- 
tion, murder,  and  rebellion  through  every  part  of  the  world." 

It  was  natural,  therefore,  in  view  of  hereditary  hostility 
and  religious  antagonism,  that  the  call  to  arms  in  the  follow- 
ing year  should  have  found  the  French  of  both  Quebec  and 
Acadie  indifferent  to  the  issue.  The  new  Continental  Con- 
gress did  its  best  to  counteract  the  effect  of  the  preceding 
religious  denunciations,  and  printed  an  appeal  to  the  people 
of  Quebec  to  join  with  them  in  opposing  British  "tyranny" 
and  in  establishing  the  principles  of  true  liberty  throughout 
the  continent.  This  document  and  other  inflammatory  lit- 
erature was  translated  into  French  and  largely  circulated 
among  the  habitants;  just  as  every  species  of  revolutionary 
argument,  and  the  anti-British  ebullitions  of  unscrupulous 
demagogues,  like  Thomas  Paine,  had  been  permitted  free 


I 


I^B 


110 


THE   STORY   OF    THE   DOMINION       T) 


and  practically  unanswered  circulation  throughout  the  Thir- 
teen Colonies. 

I 

WASHINGTON  APPEALS   TO   FRENCH   CANADIANS  * 

On  September  25,  1775,  George  Washington  signed  and 
issued  a  special  appeal  to  the  French  Canadians  based  upon 
similar  lines  of  thought  to  that  of  Congress.  This  docu- 
ment, which  seems  in  historic  retrospect  to  have  been  un- 
worthy of  the  usually  dignified  democracy  of  the  American 
leader,  dwelt  upon  the  struggles  of  "the  free-born  sons  of 
America" ;  the  blessings  of  liberty  and  wretchedness  of  slav- 
ery ;  the  "poverty  of  soul  and  baseness  of  spirit"  in  those 
who  would  oppose  what  had  not  yet  risen  out  of  the  sphere 
of  rebellion  into  that  of  revolution ;  the  "cruel  and  perfidious 
schemes  which  would  deluge  our  frontiers  with  the  blood  of 
women  and  children" ;  the  "tools  of  despotism"  in  England 
and  "the  slavery,  corruption,  and  arbitrary  dominion"  which 
would  follow  if  the  Motherland  of  his  own  race  should  pre- 
vail in  the  coming  struggle. 

Such  arguments  need  no  critical  consideration  in  these  later 
days,  but  their  continued  iteration  naturally  had  some  effect 
upon  Frenchmen  who  for  centuries,  at  home  and  in  the  Col- 
ony, had  been  enemies  of  the  England  now  so  harshly  de- 
nounced by  her  own  sons.  Fortunately,  however,  the  Gov- 
ernment of  Quebec  was  in  the  hands  of  one  of  those  men  who 
fully  deserve  the  designation  of  great,  and  who  prove  the 
possession  of  characteristics  and  abilities  which  long-after 
generations  mark  with  appreciation  and  admiration.  Had 
General  Sir  Guy  Carleton  been  given  a  free  hand  in  the 
English  Colonies  he  would  probably  have  averted  the  arbitra- 
ment of  war.  Had  he  been  given  command  in  place  of  Sir 
William  Howe  he  would  in  all  human  probability  have  sup- 
pressed the  rebellion  and  captured  Washington  in  the  winter 
of  his  discontentment  and  wretchedness  at  Valley  Forge. 
But  destiny  had  other  ends  in  view,  and  this  was  not  to  be. 
Even  as  it  was,  Carleton  found  himself  hampered  from  time 
to  time  by  the  constant  unfriendliness  of  the  incapable  Colo- 


COLONIAL   RIVALRY   AND   REVOLUTION 


111 


nial  Secretary  —  Lord  George  Qermaine,  afterward  Lord 
Sackville — and  was  eventually  succeeded  for  a  brief  period 
by  the  showy  and  unfortunate  Burgoyne.  From  1768  to 
1778,  however,  he  was  Governor-General,  and  in  command 
of  a  few  troops  maintained  in  Quebec*  To  his  energy  and 
capability  during  this  period  is  due  the  fact  that  Canada  is 
to-day  a  country  in  itself  and  its  people  a  British  nation. 
Surprising  as  it  may  seem,  Carleton  had  only  a  few  hundred 
regulars  under  his  command  when  the  discontent  in  the  Thir- 
teen Colonies  had  developed  into  denunciation  and  their  riots 
into  revolution.  And,  when  he  sent  to  Sir  William  Howe 
for  help,  in  1775,  that  officer  was  unable  to  forward  troops 
because  Admiral  Graves  would  not  supply  the  ships  for 
transport — not  an  uncommon  illustration  of  the  mismanage- 
ment and  incapacity  which  prevailed.  ■  .t   .    ;  ' 

The  Quebec  Governor  could  depend  upon  little  aid  locally. 
The  English  settlers  were  a  mere  handful,  and  were  naturally 
dissatisfied  with  the  Quebec  Act.  The  French  Canadians 
were,  at  the  best,  neutral,  and  in  many  places  threatened  ac- 
tive hostility,  owing  to  the  false  statements  of  alien  agitators. 
Yet  the  first  act  of  the  latter,  under  successful  conditions, 
would  have  been  to  abolish  the  French  religious  privileges 
and  immunities  of  which  the  British  Government  had  been 
the  grantor  and  was  now  the  guardian.    '  ' 

CARLETON   SAVES   THE    COUNTRY   TO    ENGLAND 

Wa.*  had  now  come  again  upon  the  continent  which  had 
seen  so  much  of  strife,  and  this  time  it  was  a  struggle  which 
should  never  have  occurred.  George  III  and  his  Parliament 
had  drifted  from  the  mere  assertion  of  a  right  to  tax  the 
Colonists  into  an  attempt  to  enforce  that  right,  and  the  at- 
tempt was  made  without  vigor,  without  knowledge,  without 
continuity  of  effort,  without  organization.  The  Colonists, 
themselves,  had  drifted  out  of  discontented  dependence  upon 
Great  Britain  into  a  shadowy  alliance  and  thence  into  prac- 


m 


*  New  France  became  officially  the  Province  of  Quebec  in  17(53,  aiu] 
after  the  division  of  1791  l)ecame  known  as  Lower  Canada. 


112 


THE  STORY   OF   THE   DOMINION 


tical  independence.  It  was  not  the  Colonial  independence 
of  to-day,  based  upon  loyalty  as  well  as  liberty,  and  which 
seeks  for  means  of  closer  union  with  the  Motherland,  but  it 
was  an  independence  founded  upon  suspicion,  regarding  Im- 
perial unity  as  subjection  and  British  institutions  as  a  form 
of  tyranny.  Canada,  or  the  northern  British  posaessions,  had 
also  been  compelled  to  drift  along  without  adequate  forces 
for  defence,  and  only  in  Carleton's  Quebec  Act,  in  his  policy 
of  conciliating  the  French,  and  in  his  strenuous  efforts  to 
obtain  more  troops,  had  any  statecraft  been  shown.  Then 
the  fight  at  Lexington  took  place,  on  April  19,  1775,  that  of 
Bunker  Hill  occurred  two  months  later,  the  captiire  by  Ethan 
Allen  of  the  forts  of  Ticonderoga  and  Crown  Point  followed, 
and  out  of  the  general  policy  of  drift  had  come  the  usual  re- 
sult of  disaster. 

ji  The  opening  of  the  historic  warpath  into  Quebec  com- 
menced in  the  fall  of  the  forts  just  mentioned ',  it  was  followed 
with  the  invasion  of  that  country  by  General  Montgomery  at 
the  head  of  3,000  men  and  Colonel  Benedict  Arnold  with 
1,200  more.  The  advance  was,  at  first,  eminently  successful, 
and  the  American  troops  forced  their  way  across  the  Riche- 
lieu, took  St.  John's  and  Chambly,  and  compelled  the  Gover- 
nor-General, with  his  small  armed  force,  to  leave  Montreal  at 
their  mercy,  and  to  retreat  upon  Quebec.  There  he  dis- 
played consummate  skill,  weeded  out  and  expelled  the  rebel 
sympathizers,  enrolled  several  hur.dred  loyal  volunteers,  and, 
finally,  with  1,600  men-at-arms,  awaited  the  American  as- 
sault. Meantime,  from  different  directions  and  through 
wintry  wilds  and  varied  difficulties,  Montgomery  and  Arnold 
converged  upon  Quebec,  where,  toward  the  end  of  November, 
they  demanded  the  surrender  of  the  city,  which  was  now  the 
last  spot  in  the  Province  where  waved  the  British  flag.  But 
to  this  and  other  communications  no  reply  was  given.  Gen- 
eral Carleton  had  old-fashioned  principles,  and  would  have 
no  intercourse  whatever  with  men  whom  he  considered  rebels 
and  nothing  more.  The  invaders  were  greatly  disappointed. 
They  had  not  been  able  to  obtain  the  active  support  of  more 


COLONIAL   RIVALRY   AND   REVOLUTION 


118 


tlian  a  handful  of  the  French  Canadians,  while,  by  the  pay^ 
ment  of  worthless  paper  money  for  supplies  and  a  general 
indifference  to  the  religious  convictions  of  the  populace,  they 
had  estranged  most  of  the  sympathy  previously  gained. 
Even  General  Washington's  appeal  to  them  as  "friends  and 
brethren"  had  by  now  failed  of  its  effect.  The  French  set- 
tlers, after  all,  had  had  enough  of  fighting,  and  neither  ap- 
peals to  love  of  liberty  or  to  racial  antagonism  on  the  one 
hand,  nor  pressure  by  Clergy  and  Seigneurs  on  the  other, 
would  stir  them  from  a  practically  general  neutrality. 

The  intense  cold  of  a  Quebec  winter  was  also  added  to  the 
difficulties  of  the  American  commander,  as  well  as  the  cer- 
tain prospect  of  a  British  relief  fleet  arriving  in  the  spring. 
Choosing  the  speediest  apparent  solution  of  an  evil  situation, 
a  desperate  assault  was  decided  upon,  and,  amid  the  thick 
darkness  of  a  stormy  night,  on  the  31st  of  December,  1775, 
the  American  troops  attacked  the  frowning  ramparts  in  two 
distinct  columns.  The  force  under  Arnold  fought  its  way 
into  the  city,  but  was  ultimately  driven  back,  and  400  out  of 
its  700  men  were  captured.  Montgomery's  troops  were  met 
by  a  deadly  fire,  and  the  General  himself  was  killed  while 
leading  his  men  to  the  assault.  The  latter,  it  may  be  added, 
has  been  much  praised  as  an  officer  and  a  man,  and  his  death 
naturally  inclines  history  to  look  favorably  upon  his  mem- 
ory. But  a  soldier,  who,  like  Carleton  himself,  had  served 
under  Wolfe  in  other  days,  should  have  known  better  than 
attempt  such  a  deed,  brave  as  it  undoubtedly  was,  and,  as 
a  man  of  presumed  humanity,  he  should  certainly  have  hesi- 
tated long  before  issuing  a  general  order  on  December  15th, 
promising  his  soldiers  the  plunder  of  the  city  in  the  follow- 
ing words:  "The  troops  shall  have  the  effects  of  the  Gov- 
ernor, garrison,  and  of  such  as  have  been  acting  in  mislead- 
ing the  inhabitants  and  distressing  the  friends  of  Liberty,  to 
be  equally  divided  among  them." 

After  this  repulse,  the  enemy  simply  maintained  a  strict 
blockade  until  they  were  greatly  cheered  by  the  arrival  of  re- 
inforcements in  the  spring.    Almost  simultaneously,  however, 


'  ?  lis? 


114 


THE   STORY   OF   THE   DOMINION 


British  ships  arrived  in  the  St.  Lawrence,  and  the  Americans 
were  forced  to  prepare  for  retreat.  In  this  movement  Carle- 
ton  followed  them,  captured  their  guns,  and  finally  turned  the 
retreat  into  a  flight  and  utter  rout.  Shortly  afterward  a 
small  body  of  British  regulars  and  Indians  captured  "The 
Cedars,"  a  fort  on  the  St.  Lawrence,  and,  in  June,  an  Ameri- 
can attack  upon  Three  Rivers  was  repulsed  by  a  small  force 
of  militia  and  regular  troops.  Meanwhile,  however,  three 
Commissioners  had  been  despatched  by  Congress  on  April 
27,  1776,  to  try  and  counteract  the  exertions  of  Carleton 
among  the  people  and  to  increase  the  hoped-for  efficacy  of 
Washington's  Address.  The  duty  intrusted  to  them  was  that 
of  conciliating  the  French  Canadians,  and  for  this  purpose 
their  personnel  was  certainly  good.  Benjamin  Franklin,  the 
most  astute  of  American  diplomatists,  Chase,  of  Maryland, 
and  Charles  Carroll,  a  well-known  Roman  Catholic,  made  an 
excellent  Commission.  For  a  time  they  remained  in  Mont- 
real, and  then,  for  their  own  safety,  had  to  return  home. 
British  soldiers  were  now  pouring  into  the  Province,  Mont- 
real was  evacuated,  and  soon  the  invaders  were  driven  to 
the  shores  of  Lake  Champlain,  where,  through  the  possession 
of  a  small  fleet,  they  managed  to  hold  their  own  until  the 
autumn  of  1776.  Meantime,  the  British  had  also  built  a 
fleet,  and,  after  a  hot  fight,  the  American,  or  Continental, 
forces,  were  driven  from  the  lake  and  the  ramparts  of  Crown 
Point  blown  up  in  their  retreat.  The  inland  gates  of  Quebec 
were  thus  once  more  in  the  strong  hands  of  Carleton. 

PROGRESS  OF  THE  REVOLUTION 

In  New  York,  New  England,  and  elsewhere,  the  war  con- 
tinued to  drag  its  weary  and  bitter  course  for  years  after  this 
fruitless  invasion.  The  hoUowness  of  the  claim  made  by  many 
public  men  in  the  revolted  Colonies  that  they  only  desired  the 
right  to  rule  themselves,  under  the  Crown,  had  been  shoA^m  in 
this  aggressive  campaign  against  Quebec,  and  it  received  a 
final  seal  and  proof  in  the  Declaration  of  Independence  on 
July  4,  1776.     Meanwhile,  the  British  troops  outside  of 


COLONIAL   RIVALRY    AND    REVOLUTION 


lis 


Carleton^s  sphere  of  operations  had  been  doing  little  except 
to  hold  New  York.  A  vigorous  military  policy  in  1775 
might  have  averted  actual  war  by  overawing  the  riotous,  en- 
couraging the  loyal,  and  forcing  into  cotisistent  allegiance 
many  who  affected  to  favor  union  while  really  working  for 
separation.  General  Gage,  who  was  in  command  of  the 
troops,  seems,  however,  to  have  been  undecided  and  incapable 
to  the  point  of  a  practical  abdication  of  British  authc  ity. 
In  May,  1776,  Generals  Howe,  Clinton,  and  Burgoyne  ar- 
rived on  the  scene  with  reinforcements,  and  the  first-named 
took  command.  Sir  William  Howe  was  a  brave  but  self-in- 
dulgent, frivolous,  and  incapable  officer.  During  the  year 
which  followed  his  arrival  and  as  a  result  of  circumstances 
which  made  things  comparatively  easy,  he  won  possession 
of  all  New  York  and  New  Jersey,  defeated  Washington  at 
the  Brandywine,  and  captured  Philadelphia. 

Here  the  ball  was  at  his  feet.  He  had  already  made  se- 
rious mistakes  and  delays  which  were  deeply  injurious  to  the 
Royal  cause.  But  activity  now  might  have  been  the  fullest 
amends  and  have  crushed  the  rebellion  before  the  Burgoyne 
disaster  strengthened  the  American  spirit  and  the  arrival  of 
French  troops  added  to  the  American  military  force.  Wash- 
ington, during  this  winter  of  1776-7,  was  almost  in  despair. 
His  small  army  was  intrenched  at  Valley  Forge  in  a  fairly 
strong  position,  but  one  which  Howe  with  his  superior  force 
and  more  disciplined  troops  might  have  successfully  stormed, 
or  else  surrounded  and  starved  the  defenders  into  submission. 
There  was  no  army  to  relieve  them  or  to  draw  the  British 
general  away.  The  prestige  of  the  revolution  was  gone,  the 
mass  of  the  people  was  sick  of  civil  strife,  the  situation  was 
so  gloomy  that  even  while  Howe  was  idling  away  the  weeks 
and  months  at  Philadelphia,  Washington  could  get  neither 
money,  men,  nor  supplies.  One  brilliant  stroke  might  have 
settled  the  issue  so  far  as  force  of  arms  could  do  it,  and  time, 
with  its  possibilities  of  reviving  statecraft  and  a  more  con- 
ciliatory spirit,  might  perhaps  have  done  the  rest.  But,  in- 
stead of  changing  the  destiny  of  empires  and  states,  Howe 


116 


THE  STORY  OF  THE  DOMINION 


preferred  to  spend  this  winter  of  vital  opportunities  and 
vast  possibilities  in  the  varied  amusements  of  a  gay  military 
city. 

Meantime,  the  tide  had  turned  forever.  Burgoyne,  by 
favor  of  the  unspeakable  Germaine,  was  sent  to  indirectly 
supersede  Sir  Guy  Carleton  by  leading  an  army  of  8,000  men, 
despite  the  wise  protests  of  the  latter,  from  Lake  Champlain 
down  the  Hudson  to  New  York.  It  is  not  necessary  to  tell 
here  the  story  of  the  disastrous  march  which  was  ushered 
in  by  apparent  successes  such  as  the  capture  of  Ticonderoga 
and  the  defeat  of  one  opposing  army.  Suffice  it  to  say  that 
the  further  Burgoyne  penetrated  into  the  enemy's  country 
the  more  of  them  he  had  to  encounter,  until,  finally,  sur- 
rounded at  Saratoga  by  30,000  Continental  troops,  his  own 
small  and  depleted  force  was  compelled  to  surrender.  He  had 
sworn  in  his  vanity  that  British  soldiers  never  retreat.  His- 
tory declares  that  his  misplaced  obstinacy,  combined  with 
Howe's  inaction,  ruined  the  Royal  cause  and  crowned  with 
success  the  republican  armies  and  their  able  leaders.  Im- 
mediately upon  hearing  of  this  surrender  and  the  evidence  it 
afforded  of  possible  American  success,  the  Court  of  France 
accepted  the  overtures  which  Franklin  had  been  long  press- 
ing, and  not  only  recognized  the  independence  of  the  United 
States,  but  formed  an  alliance  with  its  provisional  Govern- 
ment and  prepared  for  the  war  with  Great  Britain  which  nec- 
essarily followed.  Spain  shortly  afterward  joined  the  fray 
by  a  declaration  of  war.  Holland  followed  suit,  owing  to 
some  commercial  dispute,  and  the  hour  of  the  American 
Republic  had  come  at  last. 

In  Canada,  during  the  preceding  period,  Carleton  had  been 
firmly  and  faithfully  holding  his  own.  Many  things  had 
occurred  which  to  his  proud  and  confident  spirit  must  have 
been  more  than  painful,  and  it  is  not  improbable  that  his 
recall  in  June,  1778,  was  in  some  sense  a  pleasure  to  him. 
Service  under  such  a  man  as  Germaine  was  galling  beyond 
compari&on  to  a  Governor  who  was  by  nature  both  statesman 
and  general.    On  October  28th  of  the  same  year,  and  before 


COLONIAL   RIVALRY    AND    REVOLUTION 


117 


France  had  really  plunged  into  the  fray,  the  Baron  D'Es- 
taing,  Commander  of  the  French  fleet  in  Atlantic  waters, 
issued  an  appeal  to  the  French  Canadians  which  touched 
their  most  secret  sensibilities,  and  might,  under  other  con- 
ditions than  those  created  by  the  Quebec  Act  and  Carleton's 
administration,  have  had  a  most  important  effect.  As  it  was 
no  great  harm  was  done.  In  this  document,  after  addressing 
the  people  as  "military  companions  of  the  Marquis  de  Levis,  ** 
and  describing  them  as  having  shared  his  glories  and  admired 
his  genius  for  war,  the  French  Admiral  went  on  to  ask  them 
whether  they  could  now  fight  against  their  former  leaders  and 
arm  themselves  against  their  own  kinsmen.  And  he  con- 
cluded a  strong  racial  appeal  by  declaring,  in  the  name  of 
the  King  of  France,  "that  all  his  former  subjects  in  North 
America  who  shall  no  more  acknowledge  the  supremacy  of 
Great  Britain  may  depend  upon  his  protection  and  support." 

All  these  serious  developments  in  Europe  and  America  did 
not,  however,  disturb  the  pleasures  and  ostentatious  gayeties 
of  the  supine  Howe,  and  he  idled  on  at  Philadelphia  until 
the  spring  came,  and  then  suddenly  resigned  his  post  and 
returned  to  England.  Sir  Henry  Clinton,  a  man  of  ability 
and  energy,  succeeded  to  the  command,  and  was  at  once  or- 
dered to  evacuate  the  Quaker  City.  The  time  for  really  vital 
action  had  passed,  Washington  had  once  more  got  his  troops 
into  shape,  and  the  assistance  of  France  had  changed  the 
whole  face  of  affairs  and  the  spirit  of  the  people.  Clinton, 
however,  pushed  the  war  with  such  vigor  as  was  possible  and 
seized  Charleston,  while  Lord  Cornwallis  overran  the  Caro- 
linas  and  Georgia,  and,  by  1781,  had  much  of  the  South 
under  control. 

Then  came  the  great  disaster  at  Yorktown.  It  was  the 
result  of  French  support  to  the  Revolution,  and,  incidentally, 
was  occasioned  by  the  most  miserable  exhibition  of  inca- 
pacity seen  even  during  this  war.  The  evil  genius  of  the 
military  arm  of  Britain  had  been  Howe,  and  the  evil  genius 
of  the  naval  arm  was,  in  this  case,  the  incapable  Admiral 
Graves.     The  former  had  allowed  Washington  to  slip  from 


118 


THE  STORY  OF  THE  DOMINION 


his  grasp  at  Valley  Forge ;  the  latter  allowed  the  French  fleet 
to  slip  in  and  take  Cornwallis  in  the  rear  at  Yorktown.  On 
the  17th  of  October,  1781,  after  fighting  against  impossible 
numbers  for  two  weeks,  he  was  obliged  to  surrender. 

This  practically  ended  the  war.  Lord  George  Germaine 
resigned  his  place  in  the  Ministry  at  home  after  doing  all 
the  evil  possible;  Cornwallis  returned  to  England  and 
afterward  distinguished  himself  as  Governor-General  of 
India;  Clinton  retired  from  the  chief  command  in  Amer- 
ica and  died  in  1795  as  Governor  of  Gibraltar;  Sir  Guy 
Carleton  was  sent  out  as  Commander-in-Chief  to  super- 
vise the  evacuation  of  New  York  and  to  stamp  upon  the 
pages  of  history  by  that  act  a  failure  which  might  have 
been  success  had  he  sooner  wielded  the  supreme  power. 


THE    TREATY   OF   PEACE 


V,!* 


On  September  3,  1783,  after  prolonged  negotiations  at 
the  Court  of  France,  in  which  the  British  plenipotentiaries 
won  the  deserved  condemnation  of  all  students  of  diplomacy 
by  their  weak-kneed  attitude  of  surrender  and  indifference, 
the  Treaty  of  Versailles  was  duly  signed.  John  Adama, 
Franklin,  and  John  Jay  represented  the  United  States,  and 
their  combined  ability  was  enough  for  the  most  astute  of 
the  world's  statesmen  to  have  met  successfully.  As  it  was 
they  had  only  to  play  with  a  puppet  on  the  splendid  page 
of  diplomacy  named  Oswald — a  weak,  vain,  ignorant  man, 
without  knowledge  of  American  affairs,  and,  judging  by  his 
correspondence  with  Lord  Shelburne,  the  Prime  Minister, 
without  care  as  to  the  maintenance  of  British  honor  toward 
the  Loyalists  in  the  war,  or  of  British  territorial  interests 
of  any  kind,  so  long  as  a  treaty  of  peace  was  signed.  His 
later  colleague,  Vaughan,  was  as  bad  as  himself,  and  their 
successor,  Strathy,  came  only  in  time  to  save  Quebec  and 
Acadie  from  being  given  away.  King  George's  opposition 
to  the  terms  of  this  Treaty  and  his  sharp  reproofs  to  Oswald 
should  win  the  old  monarch  something  of  modem  Canadian 
sympathy  and  appreciation. 


COLONIAL    RIVALRY    AND    REVOLUTION 


119 


Great  Britain  was  not  at  this  time  by  any  means  a  wreck 
in  either  resources  or  public  spirit.  The  union  of  the  Powers 
against  her  had  revived  the  national  sentiment,  and,  had  a 
stern  and  vigorous  statesman  been  at  the  head  of  affairs,  the 
final  result  of  the  struggle  might  have  been  very  different, 
and  certainly  would  have  been  so,  as  far  as  the  boundaries  of 
the  new  Republic  were  concerned.  Her  leaders,  however, 
had  decided  for  peace  and  they  went  into  the  negotiations 
in  no  huxtering  spirit  and  with  an  evident  hope  of  winning 
back  American  friendship  by  open-handed  generosity.  Frank- 
lin wanted  the  entire  continent  to  be  given  up  to  the  Thirteen 
Colonies  and  especially  demanded  the  handing  over  of  Quebec 
and  its  ill-defined  territories.  But  this  was  too  much  even  for 
Lord  Shelburne,  though  Oswald  declared  himself  quite  will- 
ing and  actually  stated  that  he  would  use  his  influence  to 
persuade  his  own  Government  to  concede  the  claims  of  the 
American  plenipotentiaries.  Eventually,  the  whole  of  the 
rich  Ohio  Valley  and  the  southern  part  of  what  was  then 
called  Quebec  was  handed  over  as  a  gift  to  the  Republic 
and  has  since  been  carved  into  a  number  of  the  most  pros- 
perous States  of  the  American  Union — Kentucky,  Tennessee, 
Ohio,  Indiana,  Illinois,  Alabama,  Michigan,  Wisconsin,  and 
Minnesota.  On  the  east  the  fatal  blunder  was  made  of  de- 
fining the  boundary  as  the  St.  Croix  River  and  thus  inserting 
a  wedge  of  alien  territory  between  the  present  Provinces  of 
Quebec  and  Nova  Scotia  and  depriving  the  Dominion  of  a 
winter  seaport  through  the  later  concessions  of  Lord  Ash- 
burton — a  worthy  successor  to  Oswald  and  Vaughan. 

For  a  time  peace  now  reigned,  though  it  was  a  peace  marred 
by  bitter  feeling  in  the  States  and  by  memories  of  sorrow 
and  suffering  among  the  Loyalists  who  had  migrated  to  the 
British  country  which  still  remained  at  the  north.  Looking 
back  now  it  is  not  hard  to  make  excuses  for  the  statesmen 
(as  distinct  from  the  diplomats)  who  threw  so  much  of  valu- 
able territory  away  in  order  to  please  and  placate  a  sentiment 
which  even  yet  they  did  not  understand — a  disruption  the 
completeness  and  finality  of  which  their  successors  had  hardly 


I " 


120 


TEE  STORY   OF   THE   DOMINION   OO 


grasped  a  hundred  years  afterward.  Nor  is  it  difficult  to 
see  that  the  value  of  these  regions  was  very  little  to  the 
England  of  that  day,  and,  except  from  the  sentimental  stand- 
point of  the  Sovereign,  hardly  worth  the  tremendous  liabili- 
ties which  had  been  incurred  and  the  blood  which  had  been 
shed.  Very  few  men,  great  or  little,  are  able  to  look  a 
century  ahead.  Nor  is  it  impossible,  even  while  regretting 
the  result  for  Canada's  sake,  to  understand  the  feeling  of 
many  outside  the  United  States  who  think  that  this  gift  of 
territory,  and  some  of  the  later  developments  of  the  Republic 
along  military  lines,  was  all  for  the  best. 

The  die  was  cast,  however,  and  henceforth  the  history  of 
the  growing  Republic  and  the  future  commonwealth,  though 
running  side  by  side  in  a  geographical  sense,  is  entirely  di- 
verse in  the  evolution  of  institutions,  in  the  creations  of  con- 
structive statesmanship,  and  in  popular  svmpathies.  The 
story  of  that  development  to  the  south  of  the  boundary  line 
has  a  greater  place  in  the  world's  canvas  of  events,  or  litera- 
ture, but  that  to  the  north  has  also  possessed  much  of  interest, 
much  of  instruction,  much  of  political  shadow,  much  of 
national  success. 


'h\-:.-i:'.^''y':}r.i,i,i  rf'V-'-    i;*"; 


CHAPTER  VII.    i-^.;>i;  >^;i^r^>nu;V 


THE   LOYALIST  PIONEERS 


■j;!  U 


THE  United  Empire  Loyalists  represent  in  continental 
annals  the  history  of  a  lost  cause  and  the  foundation 
..^^  of  a  new  commonwealth.  In  the  former  capacity 
popular  ignominy  has  very  largely  been  their  lot  in  the  pages 
of  American  history  and  sometimes  at  the  undeserved  hands 
of  British  publicists.  In  the  latter  capacity  they  have  be- 
come enshrined  in  the  records  of  self-sacrifice  and  toil  and 
suffering  which  have  gone  into  the  making  of  Canada  as 
they  muse  go  into  the  creation  of  anything  worth  having  in 
this  comprsx  world  of  ours.  •.i«md'> 


THE   LOYALIST  PIONEERS 


121 


THE   PLACE   HELD  BY  THE   AMERICAN  LOYALISTS 

Yet  to  the  impartial  student  of  history,  of  the  workings  of 
national  sentiment,  of  the  hidden  springs  which  mold  the 
character  and  control  the  action  of  individuals  at  a  great 
public  crisis,  the  place  held  by  the  American  Loyalists  was 
as  honorable  and  consistent  in  their  own  country  as  it  after- 
ward became  in  the  British  land  to  the  north.  To  under- 
stand their  later  position,  as  well  as  their  migration,  a  few 
words  must  be  said  here  regarding  the  cardinal  principles 
which  actuated  their  conduct  and  stamped  their  character. 

They  were  sincerely  loyal  to  the  King.  The  end  of  the 
eighteenth  century  was  still  a  monarchical  age  and  the  Sov- 
ereign was  to  the  great  mass  of  his  subjects  still  an  object 
of  personal  allegiance — even  in  a  certain  limited  sense  to  the 
republican-minded  Puritan.  He  had  not  become,  and  no  one 
as  yet  dreamed  of  his  becoming,  a  constitutional  luler  in  the 
modern  sense;  an  embodiment  of  the  State  and  a  sort  of 
incarnation  of  the  popular  will.  Even  to- day,  in  the  British 
Empire,  it  is  a  question  if  the  factor  of  personal  loyalty 
is  not  powerful  enough  to  hold  the  Sovereign  in  his  place 
should  he  choose  to  take  what  might  be  termed  an  arbitrary 
course.  A  century  ago  it  was  a  matter  of  duty,  of  patriot- 
ism, to  myriads  of  the  King's  subjects  to  condone  actions 
which  they  disapproved  at  heart  because  of  this  sentiment 
which  surrounded  the  throne  of  the  realm  and  environed 
the  royal  person  with  something  more  than  mere  respect. 

PRINCIPLES,    TRADITIONS,    AND    GENERAL    POSITIONS    '    ' 

The  spirit  of  the  Cavaliers  and  soldiers,  the  gentry  and 
the  peasants,  who  alike  rallied  around  the  amiable  weaknesses 
of  Charles  I,  and  the  virtues  and  vices  of  Charles  II,  was 
still  abroad  in  the  American  land  and  found  its  place  amid 
the  gentry  of  Virginia  as  it  did  among  some  of  the  sturdy 
sons  of  New  England.  To  these  men,  and  it  must  be  remem- 
bered they  were  in  the  majority  when  the  Revolution  be- 
gan, the  name  of  the  King  still  embodied  fealty  to  the 

DOMINION — 6 


I 


III 


122 


THE  STORY  OF   THE   DOMINION 


State  as  it  certainly  required  loyalty  to  the  flag  and  institu- 
tions of  their  fathers.  In  itself  this  loyalty  was  an  admirable 
quality  and  one  which  proved  its  inherent  strength  in  the 
privations  and  sufferings  which  came  to  those  who  held  it; 

"They  counted  neither  cost  nor  danger,  spurned 
Defections,  treasons,  spoils;  but  feared  God, 
Nor  shamed  of  their  allegiance  to  the  King." 

Nor  was  King  George  and  his  cause  altogether  unworthy 
of  this  sentiment — apart  from  the  principle  of  personal  loy- 
alty. There  was  enough  of  greatness  in  the  character  of 
American  leaders  at  this  time,  of  justification  in  the  com- 
plaints of  Colonial  politicians  and  the  people,  of  excuse  in 
the  mistakes  and  ignorance  of  British  administrators,  to 
make  it  a  matter  of  surprise  that  there  has  not  been  more 
magnanimity  shown  by  the  writers  and  speakers  of  the  Re- 
public to  the  honesty  of  purpose  and  purity  of  principle 
shown  by  this  much-troubled  monarch.  It  was  the  misfor- 
tune of  George  III  that  he  represented  a  system  of  adminis- 
tration which  the  Thirteen  Colonies  had  outgrown;  that  he 
and  his  advisers  had  no  precedents  in  Colonial  self-govern- 
ment to  guide  them;  that  his  Ministers  were  often  narrow 
and  not  very  able  men,  and  the  one  in  charge  of  Colonial 
affairs — Lord  George  Germaine — the  most  criminally  incom- 
petent, vain,  and  selfish  personage  who  ever  held  power  at 
a  critical  juncture;  that  the  Liberal  leaders  of  the  time  were 
seriously  open  to  suspicion,  and  Charles  James  Fox,  at  least, 
an  acknowledged  ally  of  the  Trench  enemies  of  England; 
that  the  King's  own  periods  of  mental  blindness  made  a 
continuous  and  efficient  policy  very  difficult. 

Personally,  these  complications — to  say  nothing  of  a  wild 
and  wicked  son  who  sought  only  means  of  hurting  the  King 
in  heart  and  reputation — appear  to  deserve  some  sympathy 
rather  than  unstinted  condemnation.  It  was  to  the  King's 
credit,  also,  that  he  never  swerved  in  his  desire  and  inten- 
tion to  hold  the  Empire  intact — as  it  was  his  bounden  duty 
to  do;  that  in  this  policy  his  Parliament,  by  a  great  ma- 
jority, was  with  him;  that  the  mass  of  the  English  people 


THE  LOYALIST   PIONEERS 


123 


was  devoted  to  him  and  those  who  knew  him  best  were  among 
his  warmest  admirers;  that  when  he  wrote  to  Lord  North 
on  June  13,  1781,  "We  have  the  greatest  objects  to  maJce 
us  zealous  in  our  pursuit,  for  we  are  contending  for  our 
whole  consequence,  whether  we  are  to  rank  among  the  great 
Powers  or  be  reduced  to  one  of  the  least  considerable," 
he  voiced  the  sentiment  of  every  ruler  who  feels  the  sense 
of  duty  to  his  country  and  people ;  that  though  he  naturally 
did  not  understand,  any  more  than  did  the  Colonists  them- 
selves, the  modern  principle  of  constitutional  Parliaments 
in  distant  countries  administered  by  a  representative  of  the 
Crown,  he  yet  was  willing  to  offer  seats  in  the  Imperial 
Parliament  to  Colonial  delegates  and  to  repeal  the  not  alto- 
gether unjust  Stamp  Act  as  soon  as  he  found  that  the  peo- 
ple would  not  submit  to  even  that  measure  of  taxation  in 
return  for  the  immense  indebtedness  incurred  by  England 
in  their  defence  against  France. 

When  we  look  closely  and  calmly  at  this  picture  of  the 
King  struggling  against  incompetent  Ministers  and  politi- 
cians who  cared  more  for  parties  than  for  empire,  facing 
unavoidable  periods  of  personal  aberration,  battling  with  for- 
eign enemies  who  soon  included  France  and  Spain  and  Hol- 
land, as  well  as  the  revolted  Colonies,  it  is  impossible  not  to 
feel  that  George  III,  with  all  his  mistakes  and  limited  abili- 
ties, was  as  truly  patriotic  in  his  opposition  to  the  Revolution 
as  Lincoln  was  in  his  antagonism  to  a  later  Rebellion.  His- 
tory, when  separated  from  the  influences  of  national  and 
perhaps  natural  hostility,  will  eventually  throw  a  chaplet  of 
credit  upon  the  memory  of  the  monarch  who  lived  so  sad  a  life 
and  fought  a  losing  struggle  in  the  spirit  of  his  letter  to  Lord 
North  on  November  3, 1781 :  "I  feel  the  justice  of  our  cause ; 
I  put  the  greatest  confidence  in  the  valor  of  our  army  and 
navy,  and,  above  all,  in  the  assistance  of  Divine  Providence." 

At  the  same  time  these  considerations  naturally  did  not 
commend  themtelves  very  strongly  to  men  of  democratic  char- 
acter who  had  been  molded  in  the  melting-pot  of  war  and  pri- 
vation and  pioneer  labor — ^to  say  nothing  of  hereditary  afBlia- 


i- 


t 

ill 


124 


THE  STORY   OF   THE   DOMINION 


tion  in  many  cases  to  the  Roundheads  and  Repuhlicaus  of  a 
preceding  period  in  England.  They  chafed  against  com- 
mercial restrictions  and  the  bonds  of  the  Navigation  Laws; 
against  the  not  infrequent  insults  of  a  rough  soldiery  and 
supercilious  officers;  against  the  attempts  to  prevent  smug- 
gling and  to  collect  taxes  at  the  end  of  the  bayonet.  That  a 
large  minority  finally  revolted  against  all  the  complications 
arising  out  of  this  ignorant  attempt  of  a  free  Parliament  and 
its  King  to  govern  a  free  people  three  thousand  miles  away  is 
not  altogether  to  be  wondered  at.  The  British  authorities 
were  without  the  machinery  of  suitable  administration  which 
might  have  made  their  effort  at  government  successful,  with- 
out the  knowledge  of  local  conditions  which  might  have 
brought  the  distant  Sovereign  and  his  Ministers  into  touch 
with  the  Colonial  masses,  without  a  capacity  on  the  part  of 
the  King  himself  to  select  wise  Governors  and  able  com- 
manders of  the  forces.  The  mistake  of  King  Gteorge  and  the 
one  for  which  he  must  stand  condemned  at  the  bar  of  history 
was  his  choice  of  subordinates  and  his  refusal  to  follow  at  an 
early  period  the  advice  of  Pitt.  There  is  absolutely  no  ex- 
cuse for  the  placing  of  Lord  George  Germaine  in  charge  of 
Colonial  affairs,  or  for  the  appointment  of  such  officers  as 
Graves  and  Howe  and  Burgoyne,  and  oth<  rs  who  were  placed 
in  responsible  positions  in  the  Colonies  from  time  to  time. 

POSITION"    OP   THE    LOYALISTS 

The  cause  of  the  Loyalists  was  based,  however,  upon  more 
than  loyalty  to  their  King  and  their  home  country.  It  was 
at  first  the  product  of  political  opinions  to  which  they  would 
seem  to  have  had  every  right  in  a  free  land.  If  the  agitators 
had  the  inborn  privilege  of  supporting  constitutional  change 
and  of  urging  action  which  the  Tories  of  the  time  believed 
would  overthrow  all  that  they  held  most  worthy  of  allegiance 
and  regard,  certainly  the  latter  had  also  the  right  to  oppose 
such  proposals.  If  that  right  of  opposition  belonged  to  them  at 
a  time  when  Washington  and  Franklin,  Jefferson,  Jay,  and 
Madison  were  all  declaiming  against  the  possibility  of  sepa- 


r 


TW? 


THE   LOYALIST  PIONEERS 


125 


ration  from  the  Motherland  coming  as  a  result  of  thoir  agita- 
tion, how  much  more  was  it  theirs  when  rebellion  came  to  a 
head  and  independence  was  proclaimed?  With  the  feeling 
which  they  posseasod  resistance  to  rebellion  became  a  sacred 
duty,  and  was  certainly  as  much  a  matter  of  principle  as  was 
the  stnigglo  of  the  Continental  troops  for  what  they  believed 
to  be  "life,  liberty,  and  the  pursuit  of  happiness." 

But,  as  so  often  happens  in  history,  might  in  the  end  be- 
came right ;  loyalty  to  the  King  became  disloyalty  to  the  new 
state  which  had  risen  out  of  the  cramped  Colonial  conditions 
of  the  preceding  time;  failure  to  hold  the  country  for  Eng- 
land resulted  in  failure  to  hold  anything  for  themselves. 
Yet  the  Loyalists  put  up  a  good  fight  for  the  faith  that  was 
in  them.  The  British  Legion,  the  Royal  Fencible  Americans, 
the  Queen's  Rangers,  the  New  York  Volunteers,  the  King's 
American  Regiments,  the  Prince  of  Wales'  American  Vol- 
unteers, the  Maryland  Loyalists,  De  Lancey's  Battalion,  the 
Second  American  Regiment,  the  King's  Rangers,  the  South 
Carolina  Royalists,  the  North  Carolina  Highland  Regiment, 
the  King's  American  Dragoons,  the  Loyal  American  Regi- 
ment, the  American  Legion,  the  Loyal  Foresters,  the  Orange 
Rangers,  the  Pennsylvania  Loyalists,  the  Guides  and  Pio- 
neers, the  North  Carolina  Volunteers,  the  Georgia  Loyalists, 
the  West  Chester  Volunteers,  were  among  the  Colonial  regi- 
ments fighting  on  the  King's  side.  '  '  '       '    ' 

When  the  war  was  over  they  suffered  confiscation  of  prop- 
erty, as  in  many  cases  during  the  struggle  and  before  actually 
taking  up  arms,  they  had  suffered  indignity  and  outrage  at 
the  hands  of  that  portion  of  a  people  which  all  wars  let  loose, 
and  which,  in  this  case,  was  unfortunately  too  often  encour- 
aged by  political  leaders  with  other  ends  than  those  of  patriot- 
ism in  view.  Apart  from  this  aggressive  element  in  the  loyal, 
part  of  the  population  there  were  numbers  of  peaceful  and 
unoffending  citizens  who  simply  desired  to  maintain  the  law 
as  it  stood  and  to  remain  neutral  in  the  strife  around  them. 
They  were  not  of  a  type  to  be  specially  admired,  but  they 
suffered  abundantly  for  their  mistaken  view  of  the  situation. 


'■\ 


126 


THE  STORY  OF   THE   DOMINION 


To  drift  and  hesitate  in  days  of  rebbllion  is  to  invite  danger 
and  court  destruction.  Many  of  these  people,  as  well  as  of 
the  acknowledged  Loyalists,  were  tarred  and  feathered,  their 
property  destroyed  or  taken  from  them,  their  dues  in  debts, 
or  rents,  or  interest  repudiated,  their  houses  hurxied.  Much 
of  this  occurred  before  the  civil  war  actually  commenced. 
After  1775,  every  form  of  penalty  was  imposed — death,  or 
confiscation,  or  imprisonment—  upon  those  who  refused  to 
support  the  republican  cause.  On  both  sides,  as  feeling  grew 
more  bitter,  the  treatment  of  the  non-combatants  became  more 
cruel,  and,  naturally,  the  Loyalist  element  suffered  the  most. 
How  intense  was  the  feeling  of  their  opponents  may  be  judged 
by  the  declaration  of  John  Adams,  afterward  President  of 
the  United  States,  that  he  would  have  hanged  his  own  brother 
had  he  taken  the  British  part  in  the  contest.  When  the 
Treaty  of  Versailles  was  being  negotiated  efforts  were  made 
t'  jtain  adequate  guarantees  for  the  future  safety  of  those 
who  had  adhered  to  the  defeated  side  and  the  following  words 
found  a  place  on  paper: 

"It  ia  agreed  that  the  Congreaa  shall  urgently  recommend  it  to  the  Legis- 
latures of  the  various  States  to  p'^^ovide  for  the  restitution  of  ail  estates,  rights, 
and  properties  which  have  been  confiscated,  belonging  to  real  British  subjects 
and  also  of  the  estates,  riglits  and  properties  of  persons  resident  in  districts  in 
the  possession  of  His  Majesty's  arms,  and  who  have  not  borne  arms  against 
the  said  United  States  .  .  .  and  that  Congress  should  also  earnestly  recom- 
mend to  the  several  States  a  reconsideration  and  revision  of  all  acts  or  laws  re- 
garding the  premises,  so  as  to  render  the  said  laws  or  acts  perfectly  consistent, 
not  only  with  justice  and  equity,  but  with  tlie  spirit  of  conciliation  which,  on 
the  return  of  the  blessings  of  \  oace,  should  universally  prevail.*'  > 

It  is  the  barest  statement  of  historic  fact  to  say  that  no 
serious  effort  was  ever  m.ade  to  carry  out  this  agreement. 
Persecution  of  various  kinds  was  rampant,  thousands  were 
driven  out  of  the  country,  and  were  happy  to  escape  with 
their  lives;  while,  on  May  12,  1784,  the  Legislature  of  New 
York  passed  an  Act  which  recapitulated  every  possible  way 
in  which  a  Loyalist  could  have  taken  part  in  the  war  and 
enacted  that  all  such  found  within  the  State  should  be  ad- 
judged guilty  of  misprision  of  high  treason.    Meantime,  Sir 


THE   LOYALIST   PIONEERS 


127 


Guy  Carleton  was  at  New  York,  and  before  he  evacuated  the 
place  finally  did  everything  possible  to  transport  the  suffer- 
ing Loyalists  to  British  territory.  Sir  Frederick  Haldimand, 
Governor  of  Quebec,  and  John  Parr,  of  Nova  Scotia,  diA 
their  best  to  receive  and  settle  them  on  the  vast  vacant  lands 
of  the  future  Dominion.  They  came  flocking  in  thousands  to 
the  Northern  land  where  still  floaied  the  flag  they  loved  so 
well — in  ships  and  in  boats,  in  covered  wagons  or  on  foot — 
until  there  were  eventually  some  4,500  settled  along  the  shores 
of  the  St.  Lawrence,  28,000  in  the  New  Brunswick  and  Nova 
Scotia  of  the  future,  a  few  in  Prince  Edward  Island,  some 
thousands  in  the  present  Eastern  Townships  of  Quebec,  and 
probably  10,000  in  the  Ontario  of  to-day.  They  came  with- 
out money,  with  little  food,  and  few  resources,  with  no  ex- 
perience in  agriculture,  and  but  small  knowledge  of  the 
enormous  hardships  which  they  would  have  to  face.   >        ' 

SIGNIFICANCE  OF   THE   LOYALIST   MIGRATION 

This  migration  is  one  of  the  most  interesting  and  striking 
facts  of  history.  It  was  not  the  exodus  of  some  great  horde 
of  people  unable  to  earn  their  living  in  a  European  country, 
ignorant,  uncultured,  unprepared  for  the  responsibilities  of 
political  life  and  action.  It  was  a  movement  at  least  as  sig- 
nificant as  that  of  the  lilgrim  Fathers.  It  differed  from  the 
latter  in  being  the  transfer  of  what  may  be  termed,  for  want 
of  a  better  designation,  the  prosperous  upper  class  of  the 
American  community  to  a  country  which  was  a  veritable  wil- 
derness. Both  movements  were  made  for  conscience^  sake; 
but  one  was  largely  religious,  the  other  essentially  political, 
or  patriotic.  It  has  been  said  that  the  Loyalists  brought  to 
the  making  of  Canada  the  choicest  stock  the  Thirteen  Colo- 
nies could  boast.  They  certainly  did  contribute  an  army  of 
leaders,  for  it  was  the  loftiest  heads  which  attracted  the  at- 
tention of  the  Sons  of  Liberty,  of  the  Legislatures,  and  of 
those  influenced  by  the  very  opposite  motives  of  cupidity  and 
an  honest  desire  to  purge  the  young  Republic  of  all  dan- 
gerous elements. 


m- 


I 


128 


THE  STORY    OF   THE  DOMINION 


As  among  the  Cavaliers  of  England,  and,  indeed,  in  al- 
most all  instances  of  civil  strife  in  all  countries,  it  was  the 
most  influential  Judges,  the  most  distinguished  lawyers,  the 
most  highly  educated  of  the  clergy,  the  Members  of  Council 
in  the  various  Colonies,  the  Crown  officials,  the  people  of 
culture  and  social  position,  who,  in  this  case,  stood  by  the 
Crown.  There  were  many  notable  exceptions,  but  not  more 
than  enough  to  prove  the  rule.  In  this  connection  Professor 
Hosmer  in  his  "Life  of  Henry  Adams,"  has  truly  said  that 
"the  Tories  were  generally  people  of  substance,  their  stake 
in  the  country  was  even  grfater  than  that  of  their  opponents, 
their  patriotism  was  no  doubt  to  the  full  as  fervent.  The 
estates  of  the  Tories  were  among  the  fairest,  their  stately 
mansions  stood  upon  the  sightliest  hill-brows,  the  richest  and 
best-tilled  meadows  were  their  farms." 

Of  course,  they  were  not  all  of  this  class,  nor  did  all  the 
hundred  thousand  refugees  of  that  gloomy  time  come  to  the 
British  Provinces.  As  with  the  Huguenots  of  France,  over 
a  hundred  years  before,  they  scattered  over  all  counlries — • 
many  to  Great  Britain  or  the  West  Indies.  Among  the  Judges 
and  legislators,  the  clergymen  and  merchants,  who  poured  out 
of  the  ports  and  over  the  frontiers  of  the  Republic  there  were 
also  large  numbers  of  regular  soldiers  as  well  as  of  Loyalist 
volunteers,  many  yeomen  or  farmers,  many  handicraftsmen 
or  mechanics.  All  divisions  of  religious  faith  were  there. 
Numbers  of  Church  of  England  people  settled  in  Upper  Can- 
ada under  the  ministrations  of  Dr.  John  Stuart.  Here  came 
also  the  enthusiastic  and  faithful  John  Ashbury  and  the  fa- 
mous pioneer  of  Canadian  Methodism,  Barbara  Heck,  who 
led  a  band  of  loyal  Methodists  to  the  shores  of  the  Bay  of 
Quinte.  To  the  district  of  Glengarry,  in  Upper  Canada, 
came  a  large  and  gallant  body  of  Scotch  Catholics,  led  by 
their  priests,  and  destined  to  take  no  small  part  in  the  mak- 
ing of  Ontario.  To  the  same  Province,  a  little  later,  mi- 
grated many  of  the  peaceful  Quakers  an  J  Mennonites  of  Penn- 
sylvania. To  the  banks  of  the  Thames  came  large  numbers 
of  the  Mohawk  Indians  under  the  leadership  of  Joseph  Brant 


TBB  LOYALIST  PIONEERS 


129 


— loyal  survivors  of  the  famous  Six  Nations.  Such  were  the 
people,  in  a  general  sense,  who  poured  into  the  northern  Brit- 
ish Provinces  to  found  and  establish  a  new  British  state. 

Of  course,  the  migration  did  not  pass  without  comment,  or 
action,  in  England.  The  infraction  of  the  spirit  and  intent  of 
the  Treaty  of  1783,  and  the  weakness  of  the  Shelburne  Gov- 
ernment in  accepting  its  vague  pledges  as  sufficient  protection, 
provoked  angry  debates  in  Parliament  and  forced  the  resig- 
nation of  the  Ministry.  As  Lord  North  well  said  in  the 
House:  "What  were  not  the  claims  of  those  who,  in  con- 
formity to  their  allegiance,  their  cheerful  obedience  to  the 
voice  of  Parliament,  and  their  confidence  in  the  procla- 
mations of  our  Generals,  espoused  with  the  hazard  of 
their  lives  and  the  forfeiture  of  their  properties  the  cause  of 
Great  Britain  ?"  It  was  eventually  decided  to  indemnify  the 
Loyalists  for  actual  losses,  and  a  Royal  Commission  for  this 
purpose  was  established  in  1783,  which,  in  the  course  of  seven 
years,  investigated  2,291  claims  and  paid  out  to  the  sufferers 
x3,886,087  sterling,  or  nearly  $19,000,000.  Large  grants  of 
land  in  all  the  Provinces  were  also  given  to  them,  and,  in 
1789,  the  title  or  affix  of  "U.  E.  L."  was  granted  by  the 
Crown  as  a  special  honor  to  be  borne  by  every  United  Em- 
pire Loyalist  and  his  or  her  descendant.  Tools,  implements, 
and  supplies  of  food  were  also  issued  from  time  to  time. 

HARDSHIPS    OF   PIONEER    LIFE 

The  chief  centres  of  these  settlements  were  certain  parts 
of  Upper  Canada,  as  the  great  and  wild  country  to  the  imme- 
diate west  of  French  Canadian  Quebec  was  beginning  to  be 
called,  the  Eastern  Townships  of  the  present  Province  of 
Quebec,  and  the  latter-day  Province  of  New  Brunswick.  The 
other  Maritime  Provinces  received  a  considerable  number 
also.  To  a  great  extent  the  experience  of  one  family,  or  of 
one  group  of  settlers,  was  the  experience  of  all.  Log-cabins, 
built  in  the  wilderness,  with  a  single  room  and  a  single  win- 
dow, were  their  homes;  coarse  garments  spun  from  flax  or 
hemp,  or  made  from  the  hides  of  animals,  were  their  cloth- 


180 


THE  STORY   OF  THE  DOMINION 


ing — intermixed  on  rare  occasions  with  the  silks  and  laces 
and  ruffles  and  gorgeous  colors  which  had  perhaps  flaunted 
in  a  colonial  court,  or  graced  the  drawing-rooms  of  a  colonial 
mansion ;  furniture  was  made  from  the  roughest  of  wood  by 
the  unskilful  axe  of  the  pioneer ;  the  task  of  procuring  enough 
of  Indian  com  and  wild  rice  to  eat,  or  the  staving  off  of  ac- 
tual starvation,  was  for  some  time  the  principal  occupation. 
Around  them  were  the  wild  animals  of  forest  life — wolves 
and  bears  and  lynxes.  In  winter  time  there  was  always  bit- 
ter suffering  from  a  cold  which  then  knew  little  cessation 
and  from  a  snow  and  ice  which  seemed  limitless  in  quantity 
and  paralyzing  to  their  energies.  The  latter  condition  also 
isolated  their  dwellings  until  horses  and  sleighs  came,  in  bet- 
ter days,  to  help  them  bear  this  ordeal  of  life  in  the  wilder- 
ness. Yet  they  were  not  absolutely  unhappy.  They  felt 
deeply  and  fervently  the  principles  which  had  driven  them 
into  the  wilds,  and,  from  many  a  log  hut  dimly  lit  by  the 
blaze  of  a  smoky  £re  came  the  evening  hymn  of  "God  Save 
the  King,"  and  the  sound  of  the  clear-voiced  hope  that  their 
privations  and  labors  might  end  in  the  building  up  of  a 
greater  and  better  commonwealth  than  the  one  they  had  left: 

"A  vast  Dominion  stretched  from  sea  to  sea, 
-'^  A  land  of  labor  but  of  sure  reward, 

^,     »       A  land  of  corn  to  feed  the  world  withal,  I  1, 

A  land  of  life's  best  treasures,  plenty,  peace, 
Content  and  freedom,  both  to  speak  and  do, 
A  land  of  men,  to  rule  with  sober  hand. 
As  loyal  as  were  their  fathers  and  as  free."*  ..iyi:y 

So  far  as  possible  they  had  settled  in  groups  and  helped 
each  other  ,vith  the  early  and  arduous  tasks  of  clearing  the 
forest  and  chopping  the  timber  into  logs — with  axes  ill-suited 
for  the  work  and  with  results  not  much  better  suited  for  the 
rough  and  ready  cabins  which  they  had  to  build  for  shelter. 
During  many  years  there  were  no  villages,  or  shops,  or  news* 
papers,  or  roads,  or  churches,  or  schools,  or  any  other  con- 
veniences of  the  cultivated  civilization  to  which  they  had  been 


LineH  by  William  Kirby,  of  Niagara. 


THE  ^OYAUST  PIONEERS 


181 


accustomed.  Those  of  tbem  who  might  have  gone  into  other 
occupations  than  planting  and  reaping  grain,  or  clearing  tim- 
ber, and  who  knew  something  of  industrial  labor  and  the 
work  which  might  have  brought  various  comforts  to  the  pio- 
neers, were  kept  from  doing  so  by  the  hard  necessity  of  ob- 
taining food  from  the  soil.  The  original  condition  of  hu- 
manity, the  still  savage  conception  of  life  in  many  countries, 
was  here  illustrated  in  its  crudest  form ;  and  the  stern  neces- 
sity of  existence  was  to  obtain  sufficient  food  during  the 
summer  to  last  through  the  long,  cruel  winter.  As  it  was, 
famine  came  to  Upper  Canada  in  1787-88,  and  severe  hunger 
was  added  to  the  hardships  of  cold  and  the  dangers  of  wild 
animal  life  around  the  settlers.  Cornmeal  was  served  out  in 
spoonfuls,  millet  seed  became  a  substitute  for  wheat  flour, 
wheat  bran  was  greatly  valued,  ground  nuts  were  sought  for 
and  eaten,  boiled  oats  and  even  bark  and  birch  leaves  were 
acceptable.  Game  and  fish  when  caught,  which  was  not  very 
frequently,  had  to  be  eaten  without  salt,  and  tea  and  sugar 
were  unknown  for  years — until  the  latter  was  replaced  by 
maple  sugar  and  syrup. 

This  season,  however,  was  the  climax  of  privation  and  trou- 
ble. Progress,  thereafter,  was  sure  and  steady.  More  set- 
tlers came  in,  and,  as  time  passed,  included  a  large  number  of 
what  were  called  "later  Loyalists" — Americans  who  were 
loyal  at  heart  but  had  managed  to  keep  from  being  publicly 
obnoxious  to  the  Continentalists.  They  now  took  advantage 
of  various  openings  and  came  across  the  frontier  in  huge 
caravans,  with  their  families  and  flocIvS  and  home  comforts. 
From  1792  to  1796  Lieutenant-Governor  J.  Graves  Simcoe, 
of  Upper  Canada,  encouraged  this  species  of  immigrant,  gave 
new  settlers  large  grants  and  did  everything  to  encourage  a 
still  greater  influx  of  population.  Gradually  the  increasing 
migration  had  its  effect  upon  the  isolation  of  the  pioneers 
and  the  absence  of  comforts  in  their  homes.  More  varied  oc- 
cupations became  possible.  Carpenters  and  painters,  shoe- 
makers and  millwrights,  started  their  industries.  Better 
houses  were  erected,  mills  became  more  and  more  numerous, 


:li^ 


»■'-«■ 


132 


THE  STORY    OF  THE  DOMINION 


small  general  shops  were  opened  and  supplied  with  goods, 
over  hundreds  of  miles  of  waterway,  from  Quebec,  while, 
above  all,  military  roads  were  established  under  guidance  of 
the  energetic  and  far-seeing  Simcoe  and  branched  out  from 
his  village  capital  at  York  (Toronto)  in  various  directions. 

Cattle  and  horses  were  once  more  to  be  obtained  and  the 
sleigh-bells  of  the  settlers  were  heard  in  winter  ringing 
through  the  silent  forest  as  they  passed  from  one  cottage  to 
another.  Log  schoolhouses  arose,  here  and  there,  with  mis- 
erable little  urchins  perched  on  high  seats  without  a  back  and 
with  their  legs  dangling  in  mid-air,  while  receiving  instruc- 
tion from  the  crudest  and  rudest  type  of  the  traveling  teacher. 
The  process  of  progress  was  necessarily  slow,  but  it  was  now 
sure.  As  the  years  passed  on  to  the  period,  in  1812-15,  when 
their  courage  and  loyalty  were  to  be  again  tested,  many  of  the 
Loyalist  gentry  had  reached  a  position  of  comparative  com- 
fort once  more;  most  of  the  poorer  classes  were  able  to  live 
without  actual  privation.  But  there  was  no  wealth  or  luxury, 
no  development  of  artistic  tastes  and  culture,  except  in  the 
very  simplest  of  forms. 

Meanwhile,  in  New  Brunswick  and  Nova  Scotia,  in  Prince 
Edward  Island  and  Cape  Breton,  the  Loyalists  had  come  and 
taken  possession.  There  were  some  slight  differences  in  the 
nature  of  their  settlements  and  those  of  Upper  Canada.  They 
seem  to  have  stayed  more  together,  to  have  avoided  something 
of  the  painful  isolation  of  their  brother  Colonists,  to  have 
benefited  by  their  proximity  to  the  seacoast  and  to  England, 
to  have  suffered  less  from  cold  and  to  have  largely  avoided 
the  horrors  of  starvation.  There  were,  of  course,  exceptions, 
such  as  the  record  of  the  first  eight  hundred  settlers  in  Cape 
Breton  reveals.  Towns  grew  apace,  and  the  whole  life  of 
these  Provinces  became  influenced  in  the  most  overwhelming 
manner  by  the  influx  of  the  Loyalists.  New  Brunswick  re- 
ceived its  type  and  character  from  them  entirely,  while  Nova 
Scotia,  though  an  old  and  historic  region  with  a  considerable 
Acadian  population  and  the  advantage  of  having  preserved 
the  military  centre  of  Halifax  during  a  hundred  and  fifty 


TT^ 


EARLY    CONSTITUTIONAL   DEVELOPMENT 


188 


years,  was  largely  affected.  In  the  Eastern  Townships  of 
Quebec  the  Loyalists  found  local  conditions  more  distasteful 
than  distant  hardships,  and,  disliking  the  absence  of  consti- 
tutional rule,  many  migrated  again  into  Upper  Canada  and 
joined  their  brethren  in  the  great  Lake  country. 

To  all  the  Provinces  these  American  refugees  carried  their 
views  of  government;  intense  feelings  of  loyalty  which  had 
been  bred  into  their  very  bones  by  persecution  and  exile; 
strong  belief  in  monarchy  as  the  best  and  truest  form  of  gov- 
ernment; a  love  of  country  which  grew  with  the  hardships 
endured  so  patiently;  a  feeling  that  they  had  the  right  to 
control  and  guide,  in  days  to  come,  the  destinies,  the  affairs, 
the  policy  of  the  Provinces  they  were  founding  and  maintain- 
ing through  stress  and  stonn.  Out  of  this  natural  sentiment 
came  many  complications  in  the  future  and  much  political 
t'lrmoil.    But  that  is  another  story. 


|.: 


iVriv 


CHAPTER    VIII 


EARLY    CONSTITUTIONAL   DEVELOPMENT 


'•;> 


THE  form  of  government  in  New  France  was  at  once 
autocratic  and  bureaucratic  and  ecclesiastical.  The 
King  interfered  when  he  pleased,  and  changed  or  ad- 
justed matters  as  he  saw  fit.  The  Governors  were  usually 
soldiers,  and,  in  the  face  of  constant  danger  from  Iroquois 
or  English,  naturally  ruled  in  an  arbitrary  manner,  though 
often  without  that  precision  of  plan  and  action  which  would 
have  marked  the  able  military  administrator.  Champlain 
and  Frontenac,  Denonville  and  Vaudreuil,  constituted  at 
times,  however,  the  whole  government  of  the  Colony  in  their 
own  persons.       -tr^r^rrr^rrr^-"^  • 'r  --■:-.'-—- -^    v  r^  ;,>!M  ^^.n^^ti 

SYSTEM    OF    GOVERNMENT    IN    FRENCH    CANADA 

With  the  Governor-General  was  an  Intendant  who  guided, 
more  or  less,  the  finances  of  the  country  and  the  matters  of 


•x84 


THE   STORY   OF  THE   DOMINION 


adminwtrative  detail.  When  the  Intendant  was  a  strong 
man  and  the  Governor  a  ^  \  one,  the  former  for  good  or  ill 
controlled  the  State.  Jet  alon,  who  filled  the  position  in 
1665-68,  and  for  five  yearb  following  1670,  was  the  creator 
of  the  constitution  of  New  France — such  as  it  was.  A  strong 
organizer,  an  honest  administrator,  he  did  as  much  good  to 
the  infant  state  as  the  last  Intendant,  the  corrupt  and  crafty 
Frangois  Bigot,  did  harm.  Intimately  associated  with  these 
officials  was  the  Bishop.  At  times  he  was  the  greatest  of  the 
three,  and  the  most  influential.  Laval,  St.  Vallier,  and  Pont- 
briand  wielded  in  their  day  a  combined  ecclesiastical  and 
civil  power  in  French  Canada  which  was  not  dissimilar  to 
the  place  held  by  the  Princes  of  their  Church  in  mediseval 
Europe.  ';  4.!  i  >*»:.!.      .; 

In  1663,  Louis  XIV  created  what  was  at  first  called  a 
Sovereign  Council,  and  afterward  the  Supreme  Council,  as 
the  governing  body  of  his  American  possessions.  It  was 
composed  of  the  Governor-General,  who  had  charge  of  all 
military  matters,  the  Bishop,  who  was  supreme  in  all  ecclesi- 
astical concerns — and  many  which  would  now  be  termed  civil 
ones — and  the  Intendant,  who  was  President  of  the  Council, 
with  a  casting  vote  and  with  complete  control  over  police, 
trade,  justice,  and  other  departments  of  civil  administration. 
With  these  practically  supreme  officials  were  associated  six, 
and  afterward  twelve,  Councilors,  who  were  chosen  from 
among  the  leading  residents.  Under  this  system,  and  up  to 
the  Conquest,  the  Government  of  the  Colony  fluctuated  and 
merged  into  differing  degrees  of  military  administration, 
class  supremacy,  ecclesiastical  control,  and  financial  manipu- 
lation. '  * 

ESTABLISHMENT  OF   FRENCH  MILITARY  RULE 

Its  leading  objects  were  the  establishment  of  French  mili- 
tary rule  over  as  wide  a  space  as  possible  between  Hudson's 
Bay  and  the  regions  of  the  Ohio  Valley  and  the  Mississippi ; 
the  development  of  the  fur  trade,  with  profitable  returns  to 
the  numerous  French  interests  in  that  connection;  the  ex- 


-^T 


I 


EARLY    CONSTITUTIONAL   DEVELOPMENT 


186 


tension  of  religion  to  the  Indians  and  the  expansion  of  the 
power  of  the  Church;  the  eventual  hemming  in  of  the  En- 
glish settlements  upon  the  Atlantic  by  a  background  of 
French  forts  and  military  stations  down  through  the  heart 
of  the  continent.  Constitutional  machinery,  in  a  popular 
sense,  was  not  required  for  such  objects,  and,  in  fact,  proved 
far  from  beneficial  in  this  respect,  and  in  even  a  restricted 
form,  to  the  English  Thirteen  Colonies.  The  scattered  local 
centres  of  the  latter  were  governed  in  those  days  in  a  detached 
and  haphazard  way,  and  with  a  democratic  freedom  which 
was  not  conducive  to  united  military  action  or  concentrated 
policy. 

Under  early  British  administration  the  change  in  New 
France,  or  Quebec,  as  it  was  now  termed,  was  very  slight. 
From  1764  to  1774  the  military  influence  was  practically 
supreme,  and  the  power  possessed  by  Lord  Amherst,  General 
Murray,  and  Sir  Guy  Carleton  was  almost  autocratic.  In 
the  latter  year  came  the  Quebec  Act,  and  a  general  adjust- 
ment of  the  government  to  conditions  which  had  developed 
among  the  French  of  the  Lower  Province  and  the  new  Loyal- 
ist settlers  of  the  Upper  Province  as  a  result  of  the  decade 
of  British  rule. 

'    '     '     '  THE    QUEBEC    ACT  ' 

The  origin  of  this  important  legislation  was  in  the  rela- 
tions between  the  French  majority  in  Quebec  and  the  En- 
glish minority,  its  evolution  was  in  the  mind  and  policy  of 
Guy  Carleton,  Lord  Dorchester;  its  immediate  result  was 
the  saving  of  British  America  to  the  Crown  during  the 
American  Revolution;  its  ultimate  consequence  was  the 
French  Province  of  modem  times  with  full  liberty  of  laws, 
language,  and  religion.  At  the  Conquest,  and  by  the  Treaty 
of  Paris,  these  rights  had  boon  formally  guaranteed  in  a  re- 
ligious sense  to  the  65,000  inhabitants  of  Quebec  (who,  by 
1774,  had  increased  to  150,000)  in  the  declaration  that 
"the  worship  of  their  religion,  according  to  the  rites  of  the 
Romish  Church,  as  far  as  the  laws  of  Great  Britain  permit," 


186 


THE  STORY   OF   THE   DOMINION 


was  to  be  allowed.  In  practice,  also,  the  various  religious 
Orders  had  been  given  full  freedom  of  action  and  exemption 
from  taxation.  This  generosity,  however,  was  not  altogether 
palatable  to  the  small  English  population,  while,  on  the  other 
hand,  the  habitants  did  not  understand  the  English  Civil  law, 
though  willing  enough  to  accept  English  Criminal  law.  The 
result  of  a  not  very  aggressive  effort  to  substitute  the  laws 
of  the  conqueror  for  those  of  the  conquered  had  been  dissat- 
isfaction and  a  great  deal  of  confusion. 

As  the  years  passed  on,  too,  the  menacing  storm-cloud  of 
trouble  in  the  Thirteen  Colonies  grew  dark,  and  it  became 
eminently  desirable  to  conciliate  the  French  Canadians  and 
correct  every  possible  grievance.  The  territory  which  was 
administered  at  this  time,  under  the  g6neral  designation  of 
Quebec,  was  considerably  different  from  that  of  later  days, 
and  was  greatly  restricted  in  extent — although  it  became  en- 
larged beyond  recognition  by  the  Quebec  Act  itself.  By  the 
King's  Proclamation  of  1763,  Governor  Murray  had  been 
authorized  to  "summon  and  call  general  Assemblies  of  the 
freeholders  and  planters"  as  soon  as  the  "situation  and  cir- 
cumstances" of  the  new  Province  would  permit  Naturally 
and  properly  he  was  in  no  hurry  to  introduce  the  apple  of 
political  discord  and  the  difficulties  of  an  elective  system 
among  people  imbued  with  French  autocratic  habits  of  gov- 
ernment and  utterly  ignorant  of  British  ideas  and  principles. 
He  was  also  occupied  with  the  more  immediately  important 
work  of  arranging  the  judicial  and  administrative  functions 
of  the  new  Government. 

"With  the  coming  of  Carleton,  in  1768,  a  new  constitutional 
stage  in  affairs  was  developed,  and  conditions  already  indi- 
cated demanded  the  attention  of  a  man  who  is  one  of  the 
heroic  characters  of  Canadian  history.  His  policy  during 
this  period  included  the  enlargement  of  the  area  of  Quebec 
so  as  to  bring  within  its  bounds  as  much  as  possible  of  the 
regions  once  claimed  by  its  French  rulers ;  the  centralization 
of  government  in  its  various  phases  under  the  control  of  the 
Crown,  or,  in  other  words,  in  his  own  hands;  the  obtaining 


▼^F^  'I 


EARLY   CONSTITUTIONAL    DEVELOPMENT 


137 


of  Roman  Catholic  sympathy  and  the  powerful  support  of 
the  Church  for  British  connection  and  government  in  the 
inevitable  troubles  which  he  saw  to  be  coming  from  the 
New  England  and  Atlantic  Colonies ;  the  amelioration  of  local 
conditions  so  as  to  make  the  French  settlers  satisfied  with 
local  laws;  the  avoidance  of  unnecessary  or  unpopular  taxa- 
tion. Fortunately  for  Great  Britain  and  the  Canada  of  the 
future,  he  was  given  a  tolerably  free  hand,  and  would  have 
held  a  still  stronger  position  and  a  greater  place  in  the  his- 
tory of  the  Continent  if  it  had  not  been  for  the  fatuous  lit- 
tleness of  Lord  George  Germaine.  In  1769,  after  a  close 
study  of  the  situation,  he  returned  to  England  bent  upon  ob- 
taining the  legislation  afterward  expressed  in  the  Quobeo 
Act.  In  the  persistent  work  of  the  next  few  years  he  re- 
ceived strong  and  substantial  aid  from  Chief-Justice  Hey  of 
Quebec,  and  from  Frangois  Maseres,  the  Attorney-General 
of  the  Province.  p  ';    ♦:  i  i 

By  the  terms  of  the  Act,  the  Province  of  Quebec  was  de- 
fined as  extending  southward  to  the  Ohio,  westward  to  the 
Mississippi,  northward  to  the  boundaries  of  the  Hudson's 
Bay  territory,  and  eastward  to  the  borders  of  Nova  Scotia, 
A  Council  was  to  be  appointed  consisting  of  such  persons 
resident  in  the  Province,  "not  exceeding  twenty-three  or  less 
than  seventeen,  asi  His  Majesty,  his  heirs,  and  successors  may 
be  pleased  to  appoint."  This  body  was  to  have  authority  to 
make  laws  for  "the  peace,  welfare,  and  good  government  of 
the  Province,  with  the  consent  of  His  Majesty's  Governor,  or 
•in  his  absence  of  thj  Lieutenant-Governor,  or  Commander-in- 
Chief  for  the  time  being."  It  was  further  provided  that 
the  Council  should  not  have  power  to  impose  taxes  on  the 
people  of  Quebec  except  for  ordinary  local  public  works ;  that 
every  Ordinance  or  law  was  to  be  subject  to  disallowance  by 
the  King  within  six  months;  that  laws  affecting  religion,  or 
imposing  severe  penalties  of  any  kind,  must  have  the  Royal 
sanction  before  becoming  operative;  that  the  King  should 
retain  the  right  to  establish  Courts  of  law;  that  nothing  in 
the  Act  should  be  construed  as  repealing  or  affecting  the  Brit^ 


i^-V 


188 


THB  STORY   OF   THE   DOMINION 


IbL  enactments  already  passed  for  "prohibiting,  restraining, 
or  regulating  the  trade  or  commerce  of  His  Majesty's  Colonies 
or  Plantations  in  America."  The  vital  point  of  the  whole 
measure  was,  however,  in  its  religious  clauses. 

In  the  Montreal  Articles  of  Capitulation,  signed  on  Sep- 
tember 8,  1760,  by  General  Amlierst  and  M.  de  Vandreuil, 
entire  freedom  of  worship  had  been  promised  to  Koman 
Catholics,  and  the  Communities  of  Nuns  and  Priests  were  to 
be  maintained  in  their  properties  and  privileges.  The  Trr 
of  Paris,  three  years  later,  granted  "the  liberty  of  the  Koi.  ^ 
Catholic  religion  to  the  inhabitants  of  Canada,"  and  gave 
them  permission  to  worship  according  to  the  rites  of  their 
Church,  "so  far  as  the  laws  of  Great  Britain  permit."  This 
latter  clause  could,  of  course,  have  been  read  ro  as  to  invali- 
date all  privileges  and  freedom  of  worship,  but  this  was  not 
done.  Now,  by  the  terms  of  the  Quebec  Act,  not  only  was 
the  former  religious  liberty  maintained,  but  the  Roman 
Catholic  Clergy  were  authorized  "to  hold,  receive,  and  enjoy 
their  accustomed  dues  and  rights  with  respect  to  such  per- 
sons only  as  shall  profess  the  said  religion,"  while  "ecclesias- 
tical persons  and  officers"  were  relieved  from  the  necessity  ^f 
taking  the  Elizabethan  Oath  of  Supremacy,  and  were  f 
instead  a  simple  oath  of  allegiance.  Religious  Orders  a.  - 
Communities  were  exempted  from  the  guarantee  of  prop- 
erties and  possessions,  but  with  the  exception  of  the  Society 
of  Jesus,  which  had  been  suppressed,  in  1773,  by  Pope  Clem- 
ent IV,  "with  their  functions,  houses,  and  institutions,"  the 
exception  was  allowed  to  remain  inoperative. 

Incidentally,  and  in  order  to  appease  the  small  Protestant 
population  of  the  Colony  where  Roman  Catholicism  was 
thus  practically  established  as  a  Church  in  alliance  with 
the  State  it  was  specified  that  out  of  the  dues  and  rights 
referred  to  above  the  King  might  provide  for  "the  main- 
tenance and  support  of  the  Protestant  Clergy"  in  the  Prov- 
ince. The  principles  and  practice  of  the  French  Civil  law 
were  in  some  vague  measure  guaranteed  to  the  inhabitants 
while  those  of  the  English  Criminal  law  were  ey^pressly  es- 


EARLY   COmTJTUTlONAL   DEVELOPMENT 


189 


;s 


tablished.  Such  was  the  Quebec  Act  of  lY'74.  It  waa  by 
no  means  a  perfect  measure,  nor  did  it  give  complete  satis- 
faction either  at  the  time  or  afterward.  But  it  carried  the 
Province  through  a  period  of  trouble  and  perplexity  and 
created  a  substantial  basis  for  taller  constitutional  action 
along  more  extended  lines. 

The  controversies  surrounding  this  enactment  in  England 
were  as  interesting  as  they  were  extensive.  On  May  26. 
1774,  Sir  Guy  Carleton,  Chief-Justice  Hey,  Attorney-Gen- 
eral Maseres,  and  M.  de  Lotbiniere  had  appeared  before  the 
bar  of  the  House  of  Commons  to  discuss  and  explain  the  pro- 
posed legislation.  Carleton  declared  that  there  was  no  desire 
for  an  Assembly  among  the  French  Canadians,  that  there 
were  only  360  Protestant  families  in  the  country,  all  told, 
and  that  there  were  not  enough  representative  men  to  war- 
rant the  creation  of  such  a  body.  He  did  not  favor  a  French 
Assembly.  M.  Maseres  stated  that  the  French  in  Canada 
had  no  clear  ideas  regarding  government,  indulged  in  few 
theoretical  speculations  and  would  be  content  with  any  form 
given  them  as  long  as  it  was  well  administered.  Chief- 
Justice  Hey  wanted  to  see  the  laws  blended  with  those  of 
England — in  other  wor  Is  the  abolition  of  special  race  and 
religious  privileges.  M  le  Lotbiniere  seemed  to  think  that 
if  the  French  Seigneuriai  '^nure  s  stem  was  maintained  and 
the  Seigneurs  admitted  to  some  kind  of  a  Council  the  people 
would  be  fairly  satisfied. 

In  this  connection  the  special  reports  of  the  British  Attor- 
ney-General Thurlow  and  Solicitor-General  Wedderburn  had 
already  been  submitted  to  Parliament.  Both  the  writers 
were  eminent  men.  The  former  became  celebrated  as  Lord 
High  Chancellor  and  Baron  Thurlow,  the  latter  as  Lord 
High  Chancellor,  Baron  Loughborough,  and  Earl  of  Rosslyn. 
Thurlow  believed  in  non-interference  with  existing  Civil 
laws,  customs,  manners,  private  rights,  minor  public  affairs, 
and  religious  privileges.  Wedderburn  favored  the  establish- 
ment of  a  Council  with  restricted  powers  in  the  making  of 
laws,  the  retention  of  religious  privileges,  the  protection  of 


1 


;  i 


140 


THE   STORY    OF   THE  DOMINION 


the  priests,  the  toleration  of  Monastic  Orders — with  the  ex- 
ception of  the  Jesuits.  Marryott,  the  Advocate-General, 
whose  report  did  not  appear  until  after  the  passage  of  the 
Act,  very  wisely  urged  the  regulation  of  the  Courts  of 
Justice,  the  definition  and  declaration  of  the  Civil  law,  and 
the  regulation  of  the  revenue.  He  believed  in  dual  lan- 
guage in  the  Courts  but  did  not  approve  of  any  formal  estab- 
lishment or  recognition  of  the  Roman  Catholic  '^aith.  It 
should,  he  t  aought,  merely  be  tolerated. 

The  debutes  in  the  House  of  Commons  were  stormy. 
Those  were  days  of  not  only  extreme  sensibility  regarding 
Colonies  in  general,  of  natural  doubt  concerning  questions 
of  loyalty  and  the  ties  of  kinship,  but  of  strong  prejudice 
against  Roman  Catholicism,  and  of  intense  and  very  proper 
suspicion  of  anything  touching  French  character  and  French 
friendship.  It  was  the  commencement  of  an  era  which  racked 
men's  souls  and  carried  the  British  ship  of  state  through 
varied  seas  of  storm  :ind  stress.  On  June  8,  1774,  when  the 
measure  came  before  the  House,  Wliiiam  Burke  declared 
that  instead  of  making  the  Colonists  free  subjects  of  Eng- 
land they  were  being  sentenced  to  French  government  for 
ages.  "They  are  condemned  slaves  by  the  British  Parlia- 
ment." Thomas  Townshend  described  it  as  a  measure  "to 
establish  Popery."  Colonel  Barre  declared  it  to  be  "Popish 
from  beginning  to  end."  Mr.  Sergeant  Glynne  believed  that 
it  was  the  duty  of  England  not  to  be  too  tolerant  of  alien 
principles  and  prejudices,  but  "to  root  those  prejudices  from 
the  minds  of  Canadians,  to  attach  them  by  degrees  to  the 
Civil  Government  of  England,  and  to  rivet  the  union  by  the 
strong  ties  of  laws,  language,  and  religion." 

.■  THE    WORKING   OF   THE   QUEBEC   ACT  ';  ?,i 

Parliament,  however,  passed  the  Act  and  the  King  signed 
it  despite  protests  such  as  that  of  the  Corporation  of  London, 
which  denounced  it  as  subversive  of  the  fundamental  prin- 
ciples of  the  Monarchy,  as  establishing  the  Roman  Catholic 
religion,  and  as  failing  to  provide  for  the  proj-er  protection 


^■^fcp*- 


EARLY   COrSTITUTIONAL   DEVELOPMENT 


141 


of  the  Protestant  faith.  During  the  seventeen  years  in  which 
this  legislation  was  in  force  it  can  hardly  be  said  to  have  had 
a  fair  chance  for  efficient  operation.  It  did  the  one  great 
thing  for  which  it  was  created  in  modifying  French-Cana- 
dian suspicions;  and  thi'j  holding  the  people  passive  during 
the  stormy  period  of  the  American  Eevolution  and  prevent- 
ing them  from  falling  into  the  swirl  of  French  ambition 
and  revolutionary  ideas. 

It  won  for  England  the  powerful  alliance  and  support  of 
the  Church  of  Rome  in  the  Colony  and  the  support  of  its 
adherents  in  the  War  of  1812 — long  after  the  measure  it- 
self had  been  replaced  and  extended  by  the  Act  of  1791. 
But  it  failed  as  a  means  for  really  efficient  administration 
of  Provincial  affairs.  It  did  not,  conciliate  the  natural  and 
antagonistic  feelings  of  the  small  body  of  the  English  set- 
tlers toward  the  large  French  section  of  the  population.  It 
did  not  sufficiently  distinguish  between  the  French  and  En- 
glish laws  and  define  which  was  to  be  maintained  and  which 
discarded.  It  did  not  teach  the  Judges  how  to  bring  order 
out  of  legal  chaos  and  administer  justice  under  a  system 
which  they  did  not  understand  the  limits  of.  It  did  not 
make  easier  the  complications  which  naturally  arose  when 
thousands  of  American  Loyalists  settled  in  the  Upper  part 
of  the  Province  and  found  themselves  governed  by  a  mixed 
English  and  French  system. 

Meanwhile,  Sir  Guy  Carleton  had  become  Lord  Dorchester 
and  was  sent  back  to  the  Province  which  he  had  done  so 
much  to  hold  for  Great  Britain  and  to  mold  into  its  existing 
shape.  He  arrived  in  1786,  as  GoT'ernor-General  of  all  Brit- 
ish America,  and  seems  to  have  seen  at  once  that  some  modi- 
fication in  the  Quebec  Act  was  necessary  under  the  new  cir- 
cumstances which  had  arisen.  In  response  to  a  request  from 
the  Colonial  Secretary  for  a  report  on  the  subject,  Lord 
Dorchester  declared  that  any  change  in  the  constitution  should 
be  gradual,  that  a  firm  and  paternal  administration  was  the 
best  cure  for  present  troubles,  that  the  Loyalist  settlement 
in  the  west  was  not  yet  ready  for  anything  higher  than 


t 


142 


THE  8T0EY   OF  THE   DOMINION 


county  government,  and  that  a  Lieutenant-Governor  of  abil- 
ity should  be  at  once  selected  for  the  Upper  part  of  the 
Province.  In  case  the  division  of  the  Province  of  Quebec 
in  a  definite  form  were  decided  upon,  he  submitted  certain 
suggestions  as  to  the  line  of  separation.  In  1789  the  policy 
was  settled,  and,  two  years  later,  the  new  Constitutional  Act 
passed  the  British  Parliament  after  its  terms  had  been  fully 
approved  by  Lord  Dorchester. 

?  By  this  new  measure  Quebec  was  divided  into  two  distinct 
Provinces,  with  a  Lieutenant-Governor,  a  Legislative  Council, 
and  an  Assembly  in  each.  The  Council  was  to  consist  of  not 
less  than  seven  members  appointed  for  life  by  the  Governor- 
General,  or  Lieutenant-Governor,  and  with  hereditary  func- 
tions under  certain  conditions.  The  Assembly  was  to  con- 
sist of  not  less  than  fifty  members  in  Lower  Canada  and  six- 
teen in  Upper  Canada.  The  Governor  had  power  to  give, 
or  reserve,  or  refuse  the  King's  assent  to  any  measure  passed 
by  the  Council  and  Assembly,  while  the  King-in-Council 
could  disallow  any  Bill  within  two  years  of  its  passage.  A 
Court  of  Civil  Jurisdiction  in  each  Province  was  to  be  es- 
tablished. The  Governor  was  given  power  to  allot  lands 
and  rent  therefrom  for  the  support  of  the  Protestant  clergy 
in  both  Upper  and  Lower  Canada,  and,  with  the  advice  of 
his  Executive  Council,  to  erect  parsonages  under  the  juris- 
diction of  the  Bishop  of  Nova  Scotia.  No  legislation  under 
the  Act  was  to  interfere  with  Parliamentary  prohibitions  or 
duties  regarding  commerce  and  navigation.  ■/         . 

'  /.  OBJECTIONS    TO   THE   CONSTITUTIONAL   ACT 

Some  of  the  local  objections  to  this  measure  were  natural ; 
others,  in  the  retrospect  of  history,  seem  very  curious.  Adam 
Lymburner,  a  respected  merchant  of  Quebec  City,  repre- 
sented before  the  bar  of  the  House  of  Commons  the  views  of 
many  English-speaking  settlers.  They  wanted  the  absolute 
repeal  of  the  Quebec  Act  and  a  new  constitution  which  would 
limit  the  power  of  the  French  Canadians  and  increase  their 
own.     They  disliked  the  proposed  division  of  territory,  he 


EARLY    CONSTITUTIONAL    DEVELOPMENT 


143 


le 


declared,  because  if  the  policy  were  ever  found  to  work 
injuriously  the  Provinces  could  not  he  reunited;  and  be- 
cause the  new  Province  of  Upper  Canada  "would  be  entirely 
cut  off  from  all  communication  with  Great  Britain,"  and 
there  would  thus  be  a  gradual  weakening  in  the  existing  tiea 
of  loyalty  and  attachment  to  the  Mother-country.  He  op- 
posed the  clause  conferring  hereditary  membership  in  the 
Legislative  Council,  and  concluded  his  evidence  by  declaring 
that  the  Falls  of  Niagara  were  "an  insurmountable  barrier 
to  the  transportation  of  produce"  and  that  Quebec  was  nearly 
the  centre  of  the  cultivable  part  of  the  Province.  On  May 
6,  1791,  there  commenced  a  debate  in  the  Imperial  Com- 
mons which  has  become  historical  on  account  of  the  con- 
troversy between  Pitt  and  Fox  and  Burke. 

It  was  then  the  day  of  blood  and  terror  in  France  as  well 
as  of  the  dominance  in  the  British  Parliament  of  an  elo- 
quence which  has  never  since  been  equaled.  Naturally,  this 
conferring  of  constitutional  liberties  upon  the  French  of 
Quebec  stirred  up  the  friends  and  foes  of  the  French  Revo- 
lution in  Parliament  and  caused  some  great  speeches.  Burke 
declared  that  a  new  light  had  arisen  upon  the  horizon  of 
France.  The  French  Academies,  uniting  with  French  Clubs, 
had  lit  the  blaze  of  liberty  with  the  torch  of  sedition  and  had 
diffused  the  flame  of  freedom  by  the  help  of  "La  Lanterne." 
He  seemed  to  fear  that  there  was  an  attempt  in  the  proposed 
Act  to  graft  some  of  the  principles  of  the  French  constitu- 
tion upon  that  of  the  Colony  and  he  strongly  advocated  the 
adoption  of  British  principles  only. 

Fox  denounced  everything  and  everybody  and  especially 
the  clause  of  the  Bill  which  applied  the  hereditary  principle 
to  the  Legislative  Council.  Pitt,  with  all  his  powerful  per- 
sonality and  influence,  defended  the  measure  and  eventually 
carried  it  through  the  House.  He  expressed  his  wish  to  give 
Canada  as  perfect  a  constitution  as  possible — a  mixture  of 
monarchy,  aristocracy,  and  democracy  such  as  they  had  in 
Great  Britain  herself.  It  is  apparent  from  these  debates 
that  the  British  statesmen  of  that  critical  period  were  warmly^ 


144 


THE  STORY   OF   THE   DOMINION 


appreciative  of  the  loyalty  of  the  French  Canadians  during 
the  American  Revolution  and  of  their  conservatism  in  con- 
nection with  the  still  more  menacing  storm  in  France.  Pitt, 
himself,  had  an  idea  that  the  more  the  Colonies  in  British 
America  could  be  kept  apart  the  better  it  would  be  for  their 
loyalty,  and  he,  therefore,  strongly  favored  the  perpetuation 
of  French  laws,  institutions,  and  language  in  Lower  Canada 
"with  that  object  in  view.  Union  among  the  Thirteen  Col- 
onies had  produced  war  and  independence;  union  among  the 
remaining  British  Colonies  would  certainly  be  dangerous! 
When  such  was  the  belief  of  England's  greatest  political 
leader  in  1791  there  is  certainly  some  ground  for  excusing 
the  mistakes  of  King  George  a  quarter  of  a  century  before. 

After  the  Bill  had  passed  both  Houses  it  was  duly  pro- 
claimed by  the  King-in-Council  on  August  24,  1791,  and  the 
Provinces  of  Upper  and  Lower  Canada  created.  Lord  Dor- 
chester was,  of  course,  still  Governor-General,  or  Governor- 
in-Chief,  as  the  title  went  for  many  years  after  this  time. 
Major-General  Sir  Alvred  Clarke  was  Lieutenant-Governor 
of  the  Lower  Province,  Major-General  J.  Graves  Simcoe  of 
the  Upper.  Among  those  who  were  present  at  Quebec  in 
December  of  this  year  during  the  inauguration  of  the  new 
constitution  was  H.  R.  H.  Prince  Edward — afterward  Duke 
of  Kent  and  father  of  Queen  Victoria.  Newark,  afterward 
Niagara,  was  the  first  capital  of  the  infant  Province  of  Upper 
Canada,  and  then  York — afterward  Toronto — was  founded 
by  Simcoe  for  this  purpose  upon  the  shores  of  Lake  Ontario 
and  amid  a  background  of  deep  and  gloomy  forest.  His 
earliest  preference,  however,  had  been  a  place  on  the  Thames, 
in  the  heart  of  the  western  wilderness  and  far  removed  from 
danger  of  American  attack,  which  afterward  became  the  City 
of  London.  Simcoe's  first  Assembly  met  at  Newark  on  Sep- 
tember 17,  1792,  and  the  first  Parliament  of  Lower  Canada 
at  Quebec  on  December  17th  following. 

The  conditions  prevalent  in  the  two  communities  at  this 
time  were  very  different.  The  Upper  Province  was  peopled 
by  British  Loyalists  trained  in  Colonial  self-government,  so 


EARLY   CONSTITUTIONAL   DEVELOPMENT 


145 


far  aa  it  wan  understood  in  those  days,  and  saturated  with 
faith  in  the  freedom  and  fairness  of  British  institutions. 
They  had  English  laws  and  their  lands  were  held  on  freehold 
tenure.  They  had  a  Governor  who  was  one  of  those  clear- 
sighted, determined  characters  so  essential  to  a  period  and 
conditions  when  the  mold  of  nationality  is  not  formed  and 
when  much  depends  upon  the  initiative  of  those  who  possess 
authority.  He  was  British  and  loyal  to  the  heart's  core,  had 
fought  in  command  of  the  Queen's  Rangers  of  Virginia  dur- 
ing the  Revolution,  and  fully  expected  to  fight  in  another 
struggle  of  the  same  kind.  During  his  brief  four  years  of 
power,  he,  in  fact,  warned  the  Home  authorities  that  an- 
other war  with  the  United  States  was  inevitable  before  mat- 
ters finally  settled  down.  He  prepared  in  such  small  ways 
as  he  could  for  the  possibility,  built  roads  throughout  the 
wilderness  suited  for  the  transport  of  troops,  issued  a  proc- 
lamation offering  freer  grants  of  land  to  all  Loyalists  still 
remaining  in  the  States,  and  was  successful  in  obtaining  large 
■numbers.  Incidentally  he  did  much,  by  pressure  upon  the 
Imperial  authorities,  to  establish  the  Church  of  England  in 
the  Province  and  something  to  help  education  and  to  lay^ 
the  first  foundations  of  municipal  institutions. 

Lower  Canada,  on  the  other  hand,  was  essentially  a  French 
Province.  It  had  a  British  Governor,  an  Assembly  after  the 
English  pattern,  the  Habeas  Corpus  Act,  and  the  Criminal 
law  of  England.  But  this  was  all.  Lands  were  still  held 
on  the  old  French  feudal  tenure,  although  to  suit  incoming 
settlers  the  freehold  tenure  was  allowed  under  special  re- 
quest. French  law  in  civil  matters  was  paramount  as  were 
French  customs  and  language.  The  religion  which  has  been 
identified  v^^ith  French-Canadian  life  was  practically  estab- 
lished as  a  State  Church  at  the  very  time  that  its  influence 
was  being  destroyed  and  its  position  utterly  imdermined  in 
the  Motherland  of  the  Canadian  habitant.  As  in  IJpper 
Canada,  however,  a  large  portion  of  the  wild  lands  of  the 
Province  was  set  apart  for  the  support  of  the  Protestant 
clergy.    The  people  were  ignorant,  entirely  untrained  in  con- 

DOMINION— 7 


146 


THE  STORY   OF   THE  DOMINION 


stitutional  doctrine  or  practice,  and  really  unable  for  some 
years  to  grasp  the  meaning  of  an  elective  Assembly.  When 
they  did  so  the  results  were  not  exactly  beneficial. 

THE  MARITIME  PEOVINCES 

Meanwhile,  the  Maritime  Provinces  were  making  rapid 
progress.  The  introduction  of  the  Loyalists  had  given  a  new 
meaning  to  the  staid  and  sober  political  conditions  of  Acadian 
life.  As  far  back  as  1758  there  had  been  free  institutions 
and  the  first  representative  Assembly  formed  on  Canadian 
soil  had  begun  to  sit  at  Halifax  in  October  of  that  year  Tho 
Province  of  Nova  Scotia  then  included  the  New  Brunswick  of 
the  future  and  the  two  islands  along  the  coast.  But,  with  the 
coming  of  the  great  Loyalist  migration,  a  readjustment  was 
found  necessary,  and  New  Brunswick,  in  1784,  became  a 
Province  with  an  Assembly  and  a  Governor  of  its  own — 
Colonel  Thomas  Carleton,  brother  of  Lord  Dorchester.  It 
had  prospered  greatly  under  the  heavy  preferential  duties 
which  England  imposed  in  favor  of  its  lumber ;  and  its  rivers 
were  choked  with  floating  timber,  its  sawmills  crowded  with 
products  for  shipbuilding  and  manufacturing. 

In  Nova  Scotia  a  sturdy  and  able  Loyalist,  an  old-fash- 
ioned and  honorable  Tory,  in  the  person  of  Sir  John  Went- 
worth,  was  Governor  from  1792  to  1808.  He  helped  Bishop 
Inglis  to  found  the  University  of  King's  College  and  to 
vigorously  uphold  the  union  of  State  and  Church.  Inci- 
dentally, the  war  with  France  had  caused  a  great  display  of 
patriotism  among  the  militia  and  the  enrolihent  of  the  Royal 
Nova  Scotia  Regiment;  while  the  presence  of  H.  R.  II.  the 
Duke  of  Kent  at  Halifax,  as  Commander  of  the  forces  in 
British  America,  had  made  that  city  a  brilliant  social  centre, 
and,  through  the  personal  popularity  of  the  Duke,  had  caused 
the  name  of  the  Island  of  St.  John  to  be  changed  to  Prince 
Edward.  Population,  meantime,  had  grown  greatly  through- 
out  all  the  Provinces.  In  1791  it  was  about  20,000  in 
Tipper  Canada,  150,000  in  Lower  Canada,  and  50,000  in  the 
Provinces  by  the  sea.     By  1806  these  figures  had  grown  to 


iwr- 


EARLY   CONSTITUTIONAL    DEVELOPMENT 


147 


about  70,000  in  Upper  Canada,  250,000  in  Lower  Canada, 
and  over  100,000  in  the  Atlantic  Provinces. 

With  the  expansion  of  population,  the  influx  of  new  peo- 
ple with  fresh  ideas,  or  old  principles,  and  the  friction  of 
wider  discussion,  came  controversies  of  serious  importance 
and  the  seeds  of  a  situation  which  was  eventually  to  destroy 
the  Act  of  1791  and  to  recreate  the  constitutions  of  all  the 
Provinces.  Koughly  speaking,  the  Constitutional  Act  was 
fairly  successful  in  its  operation  in  the  Canadas  up  to  the 
end  of  the  century;  workable  with  many  jars  and  much  fric- 
tion during  the  ensuing  decade;  and  thenceforward  a  com- 
plete failure.  The  pivotal  point  in  its  creation  and  applica- 
tion was  the  threefold  structure  of  Governor,*  Legislative 
Council,  and  House  of  Assembly.  They  corresponded,  after 
a  shadowy  fashion,  to  the  King,  Lords,  and  Commons  of 
England.  There  was  the  Executive  Council,  which  devel- 
oped from  a  single  advisory  body  of  representative  men  into 
a  strong  Cabinet  somewhat  after  the  English  style,  but  with- 
out the  vital  points  of  responsibility  to  the  Legislature  or  the 
adoption  of  a  departmental  system.       ■:^    --     ..  >>....: 

The  Governor  or  Lieutenant-Governor  was,  of  course,  ap- 
pointed by  the  Crown.  The  Legislative  Council  was  appointed 
by  the  Governor,  as  was  the  Executive  Council.  The  two 
Councils  came  in  time  to  be  so  mixed  up  in  composition  and 
so  strongly  of  one  opinion  in  matters  of  policy  that  they  were 
practically  one  and  the  same  body — the  smaller  one  being 
really  a  committee  of  the  larger.  The  Assembly,  on  the  other 
hand,  was  elected  by  the  people  for  a  fixed  term  of  years,  and 
naturally  soon  came  into  conflict  with  the  Upper  House.  This 
was  the  form  of  government  in  all  the  Provinces,  but  its  oper- 
ation was  very  different  in  the  French  and  English  sections, 
and  the  reasons  urged  for  its  maintenance  or  change  equally 
dissimilar. 

In  Lower  Canada  the  Governors  came  out,  generally,  with 


n 


•  The  Governor-General  seems  to  have  been  the  real  Governor  of 
Lower  Canada,  while  in  the  other  Provinces  he  rarely  interfered  with 
the  Lieutenant-Governors.  '  ,-  , »  ., 


148 


THE  STORY  OF   THE   DOMINION  u 


an  idea  that  tbe  French  Canadians  must  be  conciliated  and 
their  loyalty  maintained;  but  that  no  shred  of  Imperial  su- 
premacy sli  aid  be  surrendered.  Upon  their  arrival  they 
found  that  the  English  minority  was  enterprising,  wealthy, 
and  undoubtedly  loyal  to  British  interests  and  ideas,  but  in 
continuous  and  bitter  controversy  with  a  French  majority, 
whoso  leaders  every  year  became  more  anti-British,  and  more 
out  of  touch  with  the  principles  supported  by  the  Crown's 
representatives,  and,  as  they  soon  discovered,  by  the  members 
of  the  two  English-speaking  Councils.  In  following  out  their 
instructions  to  conserve  British  connection,  they  had,  there- 
fore, to  practically  renounce  the  hope  of  conciliating  the 
French,  or  else  to.  place  themselves  in  a  position  of  direct 
antagonism  to  the  English.  Sometimes  they  risked  the  latter 
alternative,  and  the  interests,  or  supposed  interests,  of  Eng- 
land and  the  British  element  in  the  Colony  were  sacrificed 
at  the  shrine  of  a  fleeting  French  popularity.  Then  there  was 
confusion  worse  confounded. 

In  Upper  Canada  the  difficulty  took  a  slightly  different 
shape.  There  was  little  trouble  during  the  earlier  years,  as 
all  the  population  was  Loyalist,  of  one  mind  in  political 
thought,  and  intent  chiefly  upon  building  up  its  homes  and 
strengthening  its  stakes  in  the  wilderness.  Later,  when  popu- 
lation grew  greater  and  Radicals  came  from  Scotland  and 
Lancashire,  Liberals  from  various  parts  of  England,  Ameri- 
cans from  the  States,  who  were  intent  upon  business  advan- 
tage and  filled  with  republican  notions,  the  situation  altered 
considerably.  These  people  naturally  knew  nothing  of  for- 
mer conditions,  and  were  antagonistic  to  the  class  govern- 
ment which  they  found  in  existence.  That  it  was  the  best  in 
administrative  skill  and  knowledge  which  the  Colony — little 
in  population  and  great  in  territory — could  produce ;  that  the 
Councils  were  made  up  of  men  who  had  gone  through  the 
perils  and  privations  of  pioneer  life  without  original  hope 
of  power,  and  who  thoroughly  believed  in  their  right  to  rule 
the  Province  they  had  founded ;  that  it  was  desirable  to  pro- 
ceed slowly  and  carefully  in  the  making  of  a  constitution ;  for 


THE    WAR    OF   1818-15     ^^'^ 


149 


all  these  things  the  new-comers  cared  little.  Collisions  of 
opinion  under  such  conditions  were  inevitable,  and  it  was 
equally  a  matter  of  course  and  of  right,  as  affairs  then  stood, 
that  the  Governor  and  the  Loyalists  should  work  together. 

In  the  Maritime  Provinces  affairs  remained  without 
change,  or  serious  agitation  for  change,  until  long  after  this 
period.  The  bulk  of  the  settlers  were  either  Loyalists  or 
Acadians,  and  in  either  case  not  inclined  to  active  agitation 
against  the  governing  powers.  The  Governors,  upon  the 
whole,  were  good  administrators,  intent  upon  developing 
Colonial  resources.  So  it  was  that,  while  most  of  the  powers 
of  government  remained  in  the  hands  of  the  Governor  and 
Council  in  each  of  the  Atlantic  Provinces,  people  did  not  find 
themselves  placed  in  any  position  of  acute  antagonism,  or 
under  the  apparent  necessity  of  energetic  agitation.  None 
the  less,  however,  was  the  time  merely  postponed  for  be- 
ginning the  long  struggle  which  was  to  develop  here,  as  else- 
where, between  Governor  and  Assembly.  That  conflict  com- 
menced seriously  in  the  Maritime  Provinces  after  the  War 
of  1812,  and  lasted  through  infinite  variations  until  1848. 


CHAPTER  IX 


TEE    WAR    OF   1812-15 


AS  in  the  case  of  so  many  historic  conflicts,  the  nominal 
causes  of  the  War  of  1812  between  Great  Britain  and 
the  United  States  were  not  the  real  ones.  The  Berlin 
Decrees  of  Napoleon  Bonaparte  and  the  retaliatory  Orders- 
in-Council  of  the  British  Government,  by  which  each  Power 
sought  to  blockade  the  coast  of  its  enemy  and  check  its  trade 
and  commerce,  naturally  bore  hardly  upon  neutral  Powers. 
Especially  was  this  the  case  with  the  American  Bepublic, 
which  had  come  to  almost  monopolize  the  carrying  trade  of 
the  world  during  England's  prolonged  death-grapple  with 
Prance.     So  far  as  the  latter  country  was  concerned,  the 


150 


THE  STORY   OF   THE    DOMINION 


blockade  was  a  mere  paper  mandate,  but  in  the  case  of  Eng- 
land, with  her  immense  and  effective  navy,  the  Orders-in- 
Council  became  a  stern  reality  and  were  not  a  little  injurious 
to  American  interests. 


CAUSES  OF  THE  WAR 

Still,  the  action  on  the  part  of  England  was  just  in  itself, 
as  well  as  a  matter  of  justifiable  self-defence,  and  had  there 
been  anything  approaching  a  general  spirit  of  friendliness  or 
kinship  in  the  United  States,  to  say  nothing  of  sympathy  with 
the  Mother-country's  continued  struggle  for  the  liberties  of 
Europe,  the  policy  would  have  been  borne  patiently  or  modi- 
fied as  a  result  of  courteous  representations.  But,  except  in 
parts  of  New  England,  and  in  isolated  instinces  elsewhere, 
this  sentiment  did  not  exist,  and  the  irritation  which  still 
lingered  from  the  days  of  the  Revolution  grew  in  force  and 
fire  as  it  fed  upon  the  unfortunate  effect  of  the  war  on  Ameri- 
can commerce. 

So  also  with  the  question  of  the  right  to  search  neutral 
ships  upon  the  high  seas  for  deserters. .  From  the  United 
States'  standpoint  of  the  time  and  with  any  clear  perception 
of  the  natural  feelings  of  a  young,  proud,  and  high-strung 
nation,  under  all  the  circumstances  of  the  case,  it  is  easy  now 
to  see  how  offensive  the  seizure  of  its  vessels  and  the  forcible 
removal  of  suspected  seamen  must  have  been.  At  the  same 
time,  had  there  not  been  the  bitterness  of  a  strong  and  pre- 
conceived hostility  of  sentiment,  the  reasonableness  of  Eng- 
land's position  from  her  standpoint  would  have  been  far  more 
generally  recognized. 

AMERICAN  EXPECTATIONS 

The  latter  country  was  engaged  in  a  great  struggle  for  na- 
tional existence,  and  her  very  life  depended  upon  the  fleet 
whose  strength  was  being  steadily  depleted  by  the  desertion 
of  its  seamen  to  American  vessels.  Under  such  circumstances 
her  exercise  of  a  right  of  search,  which  had  not  been  pre- 
viously questioned  with  any  degree  of  seriousness  by  other 


THE    WAR    OF  1812-16     <• 


161 


Powers,  might  at  least  have  been  met  in  a  spirit  of  some  com- 
promise. To  have  refused  to  accept,  or  to  have  aided  in  re- 
turning, the  deserters  from  ships  of  a  friendly  Power,  under 
such  conditions  of  extreme  gravity,  might  have  been  thought 
a  reasonable  action.  But  it  does  not  seem  to  have  been  even 
considered,  and  the  unfortunately  high-handed  action  of 
H.  M.  S.  Leopard  in  capturing  the  Chesapeake  and  taking 
certain  alleged  deserters  to  Halifax  Harbor,  where  they  were 
tried  and  punished,  complicated  matters  still  further.  And 
this  despite  the  immediate  apologies  of  the  British  Govern- 
ment and  recall  of  the  officers  concerned.  Then  came  the  un- 
provoked destruction  of  the  Little  Belt  by  an  American  frig- 
ate in  1811.  Jefferson's  embargo,  excluding  British  ships 
from  American  ports,  also  followed ;  though  it  was  afterward 
repealed  from  inability  to  enforce  its  provisions.  And  so 
things  developed  in  connection  with  these  two  nominal  causes 
of  a  sanguinary  struggle. 

First  of  all,  the  real  reasons  for  the  war  lay  deeper.  There 
was  the  still  smouldering  hostility  of  Revolutionary  days  in 
the  United  States.  There,  still  further,  the  natural  sympathy 
of  its  people  with  France,  as  an  old-time  ally  against  Eng- 
land, and  despite  the  apparent  inconsistency  of  a  republic 
supporting  the  ambitions  of  a  military  autocracy.  There 
was,  also,  a  lingering  and  longing  desire  to  round  off  the 
country  by  the  acquisition  of  British  America ;  and  the  strong 
popular  belief  that  it  would  be  an  easy  thing  to  do  in  the  event 
of  war.  There  was  the  inevitable  political  complication  of 
parties  struggling  for  public  support,  and,  in  the  end,  there 
was  the  spectacle  of  President  Madison  accepting  renomina- 
tion  (and  eventual  election)  upon  an  actual  pledge  to  declare 
war  against  Great  Britain. 

These  were  the  real  causes  of  the  struggle.  England  had 
no  desire  for  it.  Her  every  interest  was  in  peace  and  her 
every  effort  was  to  preserve  it.  Canada,  indeed,  suffered  dur- 
ing the  early  days  of  the  war  from  actual  instructions  to  the 
Governor-General,  Sir  George  Prevost,  to  take  things  easy  on 
the  chance  of  an  arrangement  being  patched  up  and  the 


THE   STORY  OF   TEE   DOMINION 


greatly  burdened  backs  of  the  British  soldier  and  sailor  and 
taxpayer  saved  from  the  addition  of  a  new  conflict.  At  this 
time  Wellington  was  still  warring  in  the  Peninsula,  Napoleon 
■war  at  the  height  of  his  power,  and  British  money  was  l)eing 
poured  out  like  water  to  hold  the  allied  nations  of  Europe 
from  utter  collapse.  It  was,  in  fact,  the  critical  moment  in 
the  prolonged  British  conflict  with  a  groat  soldier  who  seemed 
now  to  have  a  continent  at  his  feet  and  400.000  of  the  finest 
troops  ever  trained  by  genius  and  conquering  skill  ready  at 
his  hand.  His  only  danger,  the  only  check  upon  his  colossal 
ambitions,  came  from  the  little  countr>^  across  the  Channel 
against  whom  the  United  States,  on  June  18,  1812,  formally 
declared  war. 

If  England,  however,  had  reason  to  regret  the  addition  of 
one  more  enemy  and  another  conflict  to  the  catalogue  of  her 
responsibilities  and  difficulties,  the  scattered  Provinces  of 
British  America  had  still  more  apparent  cause  to  do  so. 
From  the  Detroit  River  to  Halifax  there  were  spread  along 
a  thousand  miles  of  borderland  less  than  5,000  British  troops. 
The  population  of  the  whole  vast  region  was  only  300,000, 
men,  women,  and  children,  as  against  an  American  population 
of  8,000,000.  The  people  of  Upper  Canada,  whore  the  bulk 
of  the  fighting  was  to  take  place,  were  only  7Y,000  in  number. 
The  result  seemed  so  certain  that  Jefferson  described  it  as 
"a  mere  matter  of  marching" ;  Eustis,  the  Secretary  of  War, 
declared  that  "we  can  take  the  Canadas  without  soldiers"; 
Henry  Clay  announced  that  "we  have  the  Canadas  as  much 
under  our  command  as  she  (Great  Britain)  has  the  ocean." 

,  I. GENERAL  BROCK  THE  HERO  OP"  THE  WAR 

Much  of  the  successful  resistance  of  the  Provinces  to  the 
ensuing  invasion  of  their  territories  by  eleven  different  armies 
in  two  years  is  due  to  the  wisdom  and  courage  oi  V 
General  Sir  Isaac  Brock,  who,  in  1812,  was  Li'^"**^"^ 
ernor  of  Upper  Canada  and  Commander  of  the  i  y 

every  war,  in  every  country,  seems  to  produce  h  ie  on(  an- 
tral figure,  and  Brock  is  imdeniably  the  hero  of  tliis  '  ipor- 


THE   WAR  OF  181i-is     ; 


158 


4ant  struggle — a  war  which  decided  the  destiny  of  half  a  con- 
tinent and  affected  the  whole  future  of  Great  Britain  and  its 
then  infant  Empire.  lie  anticipated  what  was  coming, 
warned  the  British  authorities  of  its  inevitability,  and  strove 
with  limited  means  and  shadowy  support  to  prepare  for  the 
time  of  struggle.  Addressing  the  Legislature  of  his  Province 
on  February  4,  1812,  and  more  than  four  months  before  the 
actual  outbreak  of  the  war,  he  described  the  situation  of  Eng- 
land and  Upper  Canada  in  stirring  and  historic  words: 

"The  glorious  contest  in  which  the  British  Empire  is  engaged  and  the 
vast  sacrifice  which  Britain  nobly  ofTers  to  secure  the  independence  of 
other  nations  might  be  expected  to  stifle  every  feeling  of  envy  and  jeal- 
ousy and  at  the  same  time  to  excite  the  interest  and  command  the  ad- 
miration of  a  free  people;  but,  regardless  of  such  general  impressions, 
the  American  Government  evinces  a  disposition  calculated  to  impede  and 
divide  her  efforts.  England  is  not  only  interdicted  the  harbors  of  the 
United  States  while  they  afford  a  shelter  to  cruisers  of  her  inveterate 
enemy,  but  she  is  likewise  compelled  to  resign  those  maritime  rights 
which  she  has  so  long  exercised  and  enjoyed.  Insulting  threats  are  of- 
fered and  hostile  preparations  actually  commenced ;  and  though  not  with- 
out hope  that  cool  reflection  and  the  dictates  of  justice  may  yet  avert 
the  calamities  of  war,  I  can  not  be  too  urgent  in  recommending  to  your 
early  attention  the  adoption  of  such  measures  as  will  best  secure  the  in- 
ternal peace  of  the  country  and  defeat  every  hostile  aggression." 

Within  the  last  few  lines  of  this  speech  there  is  a  hint  at 
internal  disaffection.  It  was,  indeed,  an  unfortunate  fact 
that  American  settlers  in  certain  districts  of  the  Province 
had  elected  to  the  Legislatures  men  who  reflected  their  views 
and  seriously  hampered  for  a  brief  period  the  action  of  the 
Executive.  Two  of  these  so-called  British  legislators  and 
citizens  afterward  fled  to  the  invaders'  lines,  and  one  of  them, 
named  Wilcocks,  ultimately  fell  in  fighting  the  country  of 
his  adoption  and  allegiance.  But  Brock  knew  that  he  could 
depend  upon  the  mass  of  the  people  in  his  Province,  and  that 
the  loyalty  of  the  men  of  1783  and  their  sons  would  flame 
forth  as  brightly  at  this  crisis  as  it  had  ever  done  in  the 
days  of  revolution  and  migration.  He  told  them  truly, 
through  an  appeal  to  the  Legislature,  that  the  free  spirit  of 
a  free  people  can  never  die  and  never  be  conquered,  and  that 
Great  Britain  would  stand  by  them  to  her  last  man  and  her 


■; 


K. 


|: 


>, 


154 


THE  STOBV   OF   THE  DOMINION 


last  gun  in  resisting  the  coming  wanton  invasion  of  British 
territory. 

Under  all  these  circumstances,  therefore,  when  the  news 
of  the  declaration  of  war  reached  Brock,  through  a  private 
source,  he  knew  that  everything  would  depend  upon  swift 
and  sweeping  action.  He  promptly  sent  some  regulars  to 
try  and  hold  the  Niagara  frontier,  summoned  the  Legisla- 
ture, called  out  the  militia,  and  made  such  preparations  as 
he  could  pending  the  receipt  of  official  information  regarding 
the  action  of  the  United  States.  It  did  not  come,  but  on 
July  11th  General  Hull  crossed  the  St.  Clair  River,  from 
Detroit  to  Sandwich,  with  2,000  men,  and  issued  a  bragga- 
docio proclamaaon  annountdng  protection  to  all  non-com- 
batants, declaring  the  certainty  of  conquest  and  relief  from 
British  "tyranny  and  oppression,"  and  istating  that  if  the 
British  Government  accepted  assistance  from  its  Indian  sub- 
jects in  resisting  his  invasion,  "instant  destruction"  would 
be  the  lot  of  all  who  might  be  captured  fighting  beside  an 
Indian  contingent.  Brock  replied  with  a  most  eloquent, 
dignified,  and  patriotic  manifesto,  and,  on  July  27th,  met  the 
Legislature  with  an  address  which  was  a  model  in  sentiment 
and  expression.  By  the  8th  of  August,  Hull  had  returned 
again  to  Detroit  on  hearing  of  the  capture  by  Captain  Rob- 
erts, in  pursuance  of  orders  from  his  chief,  of  the  important 
American  position  at  Michilimackinac.      !  ' 

One  week  later  Brock,  with  320  regulars  and  400  militia 
from  York  and  Lincoln,  assisted  by  the  gallant  Indian  chief 
Tacumseh  and  some  600  followers,  was  crossing  the  St.  Clair 
in  pursuit  of  his  enemy.  Hull  had  been  startled,  first  by  a 
summons  to  surrender,  and  then  by  seeing  the  little  British 
army  crossing  the  river — General  Brock  "erect  in  his  canoe, 
leading  the  way  to  battle,"  as  Tecumseh,  in  graphic  Indian 
style,  afterward  described  the  event.  Before  an  assault  could 
be  made,  however,  Hull  and  his  entire  force  of  2,500  men, 
including  the  4th  United  States  Regiment  and  its  colors, 
surrendered.  With  the  capitulation  went  the  entire  Terri- 
tory of  Michigan ;  the  town  and  port  of  Detroit,  which  prac- 


THE    WAR   OF  1812-15     '$  \\l 


155 


tically  commanded  the  whole  of  western  Canada ;  the  Ada^ns 
war  brig;  many  stands  of  arms,  a  large  quantity  of  much- 
needed  stores,  thirty-three  pieces  of  cannon  and  the  military 
chest.  It  had  been  a  bold,  a  venturesome  action  on  the  part 
of  Brock,  and  the  result  affected  almost  the  entire  struggle. 
It  inspirited  the  militia  from  end  to  end  of  the  Provinces; 
it  showed  many  of  those  having  dif.loyal  tendencies  that  it 
might  be  safer  to  at  least  appear  loyal ;  it  electrified  the  masses 
with  vigor  and  fresh  determination,     v?:  r  ■  •/ :•      <       ,  > 

Following  this  all-important  action  Brock  turned  to  meet 
greater  difficulties  than  were  presented  by  the  enemy  in  the 
field.  He  had  to  encounter  thj  weakness  and  vacillation  of 
Sir  George  Prevost,  who,  as  Governor-General  and  Com- 
mander of  the  forces,  was  directing  alfairs  from  Quebec  in 
the  spirit  of  one  who  believed  that  hostilities  would  soon  cease, 
and  knew  that  the  Ministry  at  home  was  anxious  to  do  noth- 
ing that  would  intensify  difficulties  in  that  connection.  An 
armistice,  arranged  by  Prevost,  neutralized  many  of  the  bene- 
fits derived  from  the  capture  of  Detroit ;  orders  from  the  same 
source  prevented  Broc':  from  destroying  American  shipping 
on  the  Lakes  which  was  in  course  of  building,  and  which  he 
foresaw  might  endanger  the  control  of  that  most  vital  part  of 
the  situation ;  commands  actually  issued  for  the  evacuation 
of  Detroit  though  they  were  fortunately  capable  of  evasion ; 
while  the  very  documents  and  General  Orders  written  by 
Prevost  were  dispiriting  in  effect  and  unfortunate  in  terms. 

But  Brock  turned  ^,o  his  militia,  and,  though  refused  the 
right  of  aggressive  action  which  might  have  turned  the  whole 
tide  of  events,  he  proceeded  with  a  system  of  organization 
which  soon  made  his  volunteer  force  as  effective  in  health, 
spirit,  drill,  and  condition  as  well-equipped  and  experienced 
regular  troops.  And,  through  the  summary  measures  of  im- 
prisonment, or  practical  banishment,  accorded  those  who 
showed  an  overt  inclination  to  the  American  side — coupled 
with  the  magnetic  influence  of  his  own  character  and  strong, 
personal  confidence  in  the  result  of  the  struggle — he  obtained 
full  control  over  the  population  as  well  as  the  Legislature. 


156 


THE   STORY   OF    THE   DOMINION 


He  made  every  effort  to  give  the  volunteers  an  opportunity 
of  getting  in  their  crops,  and  all  over  the  Province  the  women 
themselves  helped  by  working  in  the  fields.  Throughout  the 
conflict,  indeed,  the  signal  devotion  of  noble  women  was 
continuously  added  to  a  record  of  determined  defence  of  their 
country  by  the  men ;  and  the  incident  of  Laura  Secord  walk- 
ing miles  through  snake-infested  swamps  and  a  gloomy  forest 
region  to  give  a  British  force  warning  of  the  enemy's  ap- 
proach, was  by  no  means  an  isolated  instance  of  devotion. 
On  the  18th  of  September,  while  his  preparations  were  still 
in  progress.  Brock  wrote  his  brother  that  in  a  short  time  he 
would  hear  of  a  decisive  action  and  added:  "If  I  should  be 
beaten  the  Province  is  lost."  This  reference  to  the  gather- 
ing of  8,000  Ai.ierican  troops  upon  the  border,  for  invasion 
by  way  of  Niagara,  illustrates  the  signal  importance  of  the 
coming  conflict  at  Queenston  Heights.  Their  intention  was 
to  take  and  hold  this  strong  position  as  a  fortified  camp, 
and  from  thence  overrun  the  Province  with  troops  brought 
at  leisure  from  the  immense  reserves  behind.  At  the  same 
time.  General  Dearborn  with  a  large  force  was  to  menace 
Montreal  from  New  York  State  b,,v  way  of  Lake  Champlain, 
General  Harrison  was  to  invade  the  Upper  Province  from 
Michigan  with  6,000  men,  and  Commodore  Chauncey  was 
to  take  a  force  across  Lake  Ontario. 


BATTLE    OF    QUEENSTdiT    HEIGHTS 

The  first  part  of  this  programme  commenced  on  October 
13th, with  an  attempted  movement  of  1,500  U.S. regulars  and 
2,500  militia  across  the  Niagara  River.  About  1,100  troops, 
slowly  followed  by  other  detachn.ents,  succeeded  in  getting 
over  and  climbed  the  Heights  of  Queenston  in  the  face  of 
what  slight  resistance  could  be  offered  by  a  British  outpost. 
If  the  Americans  could  have  held  this  position  the  result 
was  certain,  and  would  probably  have  been  much  in  the  line 
of  their  expectations.  Meantime,  Sir  Isaac  Brock  —  un- 
known to  himself  he  had  been  gazetted  an  extra  Knight  of 
ihe  Bath  one  week  before  as  a  recognition  of  his  victory  at 


THE    WAR    OF   IS  IS- 15 


157 


Detroit — had  arrived  from  his  nearby  post  at  Fcrt  George, 
whence  he  had  been  watching  matters. 

But  before  he  could  do  anything  further  than  show  him- 
self to  his  troops,  size  up  the  situation,  hasten  up  his  rein- 
forcements, and  shout  out  an  order  to  "Push  on  the  York 
Volunteers,"  to  resist  an  American  contingent  which  at  this 
point  was  making  its  way  up  the  Heights,  he  fell  with  a  ball 
in  his  breast,  and  with  only  time  to  request  that  his  death 
should  be  concealed  from  the  soldiers.  The  reinforcements, 
under  Major-General  Sheaffe,  arrived  shortly  afterward, 
and,  with  800  men  in  hand,  a  bayonet  charge  was  made  upon 
the  enemy  which  forced  them  over  the  Heights  down  toward 
the  shore,  many  in  their  headlong  retreat  being  dashed  to 
pieces  amid  the  rocks,  or  drowned  in  attempting  to  cross  the 
wild  waters  of  the  Niagara.  The  survivors  surrendered  to 
the  number  of  960  men,  including  Major-General  Wads- 
worth,  six  Colonels,  and  56  other  officers — among  whom  was 
the  afterward  famous  General  Winfield  Scott.  The  British 
loss  was  trifling  in  numbers,  though  among  them  was  the 
gallant  young  Lieutenant-Colonel  John  McDonell,  Attorney- 
General  of  the  Province. 

Considerable  as  was  the  victory,  however,  and  important 
as  was  the  result  to  Upper  Canada,  nothing  could  counter- 
balance the  death  of  the  hero  of  the  war.  The  inspiration 
of  his  memory  remained,  it  is  true,  and  was  lasting  in  its 
effect,  but  the  presence  of  his  fertile  intellect,  his  powers  of 
rapid  movement,  his  genius  for  military  organization  were 
forever  lost.  Had  he  lived  his  name  would  probably  have 
been  a  great  one  in  the  annals  of  the  British  army  and  the 
world.  As  it  is,  although  his  place  is  secure  in  the  web  and 
woof  of  Canadian  history  and  in  the  hearts  of  its  people, 
it  has,  in  too  many  British  and  American  records  of  war, 
been  relegated  to  the  position  held  by  myriads  of  gallant  offi- 
cers who  have  simply  done  their  duty  and  been  killed  in  some 
obscure  outpost  skirmish.  The  vast  import  of  the  influences 
and  issues  decided  by  these  first  events  of  the  struggle  are  in 
such  cases  disregarded  or  unknown. 


:■,     ! 


158 


THE   STORY   OF   THE   DOMINION 


Winter  was  now  at  hand,  and,  after  a  futlie  invasion  from 
Buffalo,  under  General  Smyth,  which  was  repulsed  by  a 
few  troops  commanded  by  Colonel  Cecil  Bisshopp,  the  scene 
of  the  conflict  goes  for  a  brief  moment  to  Lower  Canada. 
Prevost  had  his  difficulties  there,  as  well  as  Brock  in  the 
other  Province,  but  he  was  without  the  latter's  vigor  and  de- 
termination. He  had  succeeded  to  the  troubles  of  Sir  James 
Craig's  administration,  and  found  a  community  which  had 
been  violently  stirred  by  frothy  agitations  and  by  influences 
resulting  from  tlie  peculiar  racial  conditions  of  the  country. 
So  great  was  the  apparent  discord  that  it  had  undoubtedly 
helped  the  war  party  in  the  States  to  spread  the  belief  that 
the  passive  French  Canadians  of  1776  were  now,  at  last, 
active  in  their  antagonism  to  British  rule.  But  when  war 
was  once  declared,  the  internal  strife  vanished  as  if  by  magic, 
and  the  local  Legislature  showed  immediate  willingness  to 
support  the  Governor  in  all  necessary  steps — and  in  this 
proved  superior  in  its  loyalty  to  the  little  Assembly  at  York 
which  had  allowed  Wilcocks  and  his  supporters  to  momen- 
tarily block  procedure. 

The  Governor-General  was  authorized  to  levy  and  equip 
2,000  men,  and,  in  case  of  invasion,  to  arm  the  whole  militia 
of  the  Province.  The  members  voted  £32,000  for  purposes 
of  defence,  and  at  the  next  Session  granted  £15,000  a  year 
for  five  years,  in  order  to  pay  the  interest  on  the  issue  of 
army  bills.  It  may  be  stated  here  that  the  Upper  Canada 
Legislature,  in  February,  1812,  also  recognized  the  imme- 
diate need  of  money  by  authorizing  General  Brock  to  issue 
army  bills  to  the  extent  of  £500,000 — two  million  dollars  in 
the  Halifax  currency  of  $4.00  to  a  pound,  which  was  so  long 
and  extensively  used  in  the  Provinces.  The  payment  of  the 
interest  was  guaranteed,  and,  in  January,  1814,  the  author- 
ized amount  of  issue  was  increased  to  £1,500,000  currency — 
six  million  dollars.  The  f  nancial  arrangements  of  the  war 
in  both  Provinces  were,  indt  d,  excellently  made.  No  public 
officer  was  allowed  to  ]>rofit  by  the  use  of  these  notes,  and  the 
payment  of  the  interest  was  carefully  attended  to  on  a  cir- 


THE    WAR    OF  1812-15 


159 


culation  of  which  the  highest  point  appears  to  have  been 
$4,820,000.  In  December,  1815,  it  may  be  added,  the  bills 
were  celled  in  and  redeemed  by  Sir  Gordon  Dnimmond,  then 
Lieutenant-Governor  of  Upper  Canada,  and  acting  on  behalf 
of  the  British  Government.  ..      • 

Meantime,  to  again  refer  to  the  campaign  of  1812,  some 
10,000  men  under  General  Dearborn  had  threatened  the 
Lower  Province  from  near  Lake  Champlain;  but  after  a 
brief  demonstration  which  was  checked  by  the  Montreal  mi- 
litia under  Lieutenant-Colonel  de  Salaberry,  the  American 
forces  all  along  the  line  retired  into  winter  quarters  and  the 
Canadas  found  that  they  had  come  through  the  first  campaign 
of  the  war  without  a  defeat  or  the  loss  of  a  foot  of  soil.  Some 
progress,  however,  had  been  made  by  the  Americans  in  ob- 
taining that  command  of  the  Lakes  which  Brock  had  been  so 
wisely  anxious  to  avert  at  th*   commencement  of  the  contest. 

THE    CAMPAIGN    OF    1813 

The  campaign  of  1813  was  not  quite  so  pleasant  an  ex- 
perience. It  opened  successfully  for  the  British  and  Cana- 
dian forces.  On  January  19th,  Colonel  Procter  with  500 
British  regulars  and  800  Indians  under  the  Wyandotte  chief, 
Roundhead,  crossed  the  frozen  St.  Clair,  and,  two  days  later 
attacked  General  Winchester,  who  had  about  an  equal  num- 
ber of  men  under  him.  After  a  severe  battle,  in  which  he 
lost  by  death  or  wounded  182  men,  Procter  won  a  decisive 
victory  and  took  nearly  500  prisoners.  The  loss  to  the  enemy 
in  killed  was  between  three  and  four  hundred  men.  It  was 
a  dearly  purchased  success,  however,  as  it  won  for  Procter 
a  reputation  which  he  sadly  failed  to  live  up  to.  Colonel 
George  McDonell,  who  had  raised  a  strong  regiment  among 
the  gallant  Highland  Catholics  of  the  Glengarry  settlement, 
on  February  23d  attacked  Ogdensburg,  in  New  York  State — 
from  which  some  predatory  excursions  had  come  during  the 
winter — and  captured  eleven  guns,  a  large  quantity  of  ord- 
nance and  military  stores  and  two  armed  schooners.  Four 
officers  and  seventy  privates  were  taken  prisoners. 


\.  I 


I 

I 


THE   STORY   OF   THE   DOMINION 


In  April,  however,  Commodore  Chauncey  with  a  fleet  of 
14  ships  and  1,700  troops,  sailed  from  Sackett's  Harbor,  on 
the  New  York  coast  of  Lake  Ontario,  for  York  (Toronto), 
which  was  then  a  small  place  of  800  population,  containing 
the  Government  buildings  of  the  Province.  Under  the  im- 
mediate command  of  Brigadier-General  Pike  the  Americans 
landed  on  April  27th,  but  were  for  some  time  held  in  check 
by  the  determined  resistance  of  two  companies  of  the  8th 
Regiment  and  about  200  Canadian  militia.  The  Fort,  situ- 
ated at  some  distance  from  the  little  town,  was  finally  captured 
after  an  accidental  explosion  in  which  Pike  and  260  of  his 
men  were  killed.  As  the  advance  continued,  General  Sheaffe 
withdrew  his  small  force  of  regulars  from  York  and  retreateu 
to  Kingston.  The  town  then  surrendered  with  some  250 
militia,  and,  despite  the  terms  of  capitulation,  was  freely 
pillaged  and  all  its  public  buildings  burned.  Even  the  Church 
was  robbed  of  its  plate  and  the  Legislative  Library  looted. 
In  this  latter  connection  Chauncey  expressed  great  indigna- 
tion and  made  a  personal  effort  to  restore  some  of  the  stolen 
books. 

Incidents  of  importance  now  came  swiftly  one  upon  an- 
other. On  May  27th,  Fort  George,  on  the  British  side  of  the 
Niagara  River,  was  captured  by  the  Americans,  and,  two 
days  later,  Sir  George  Prevost  was  repulsed  in  an  attack  upon 
Sackett's  Harbor.  Early  in  June  two  American  gunboats 
were  captured  on  Lake  Champlain,  and  on  the  5th  of  the 
same  month,  Colonel  Harvey — a  soldier  with  some  of  Brock's 
brilliant  qualities  and  afterward  Lieutenant-Governor  of  all 
the  Maritime  Provinces  in  turn — attacked  in  the  night  a 
large  force  of  at  least  3,500  Americans  encamped  at  Burling- 
ton Heights  (near  the  Hamilton  of  later  days)  and  captured  a 
ni.mber  of  guns,  two  general  officers,  and  over  a  hundred 
other  officers  and  men.  On  the  24th  of  June,  Lieutenant 
Fitzgibbon,  of  the  49th  Regiment,  by  a  clever  concealment  of 
his  numbers,  forced  the  surrender  of  544  American  soldiers 
under  Colonel  Boerstler,  not  far  from  Fort  George  and 
Queenston.    He  had  only  some  66  troops  and  250  Indians  in 


THE    WAR    OF   1818-15 


^K 


161 


his  command.  During  the  next  two  months  the  British  cap- 
tured Black  Rock,  where  they  lost  the  gallant  Colonel  Bis- 
shopp,  and  Fort  Schlosser — both  on  the  Niagara  frontier. 
Plattsburg,  on  Lake  Champlain,  was  captured  and  the  public 
buildings  burned  in  memory  of  York.  The  latter  place  was 
taken  a  second  time  by  the  Americans. 

Then  came  the  disastrous  British  defeat  on  Lake  Erie, 
where  Captain  Barclay,  with  six  vessels  and  300  seamen, 
was  beaten  by  Commodore  Perry,  with  nine  vessels  and  double 
the  number  of  men.  Not  only  disastrous,  but  disgraceful, 
was  the  ensuing  defeat  of  General  Procter,  near  Moravian- 
town,  by  General  Harrison,  who  had  driven  him  from  Detroit 
and  Amherstburg.  Procter  was  retreating  steadily  with 
some  400  troops,  and  800  Indians  under  Tecumseh,  pursued 
by  the  American  force  of  4,000  men.  The  battle  was 
fought  on  October  5th,  and  the  natural  result  followed,  with, 
however,  the  added  loss  of  Tecumseh.  The  disgrace  to  Proc- 
ter, who  fled  early  in  the  day  and  was  afterward  court-mar- 
tialed, censured,  and  deprived  of  all  command  for  six  months, 
was  not  in  defeat  under  such  circumstances,  but  in  the  utter 
lack  of  all  proper  military  precautions,  either  at  the  time  of 
conflict  or  during  his  previous  retreat.  The  death  of  the 
great  Indian  chief  was  one  of  the  severest  blows  to  the  Brit- 
ish cause  in  the  whole  campaign.  It  was  more  important  even 
than  the  fact  that  this  victory  placed  the  entire  western 
part  of  the  Province  in  American  hands.  The  territory 
might  be  won  back,  the  leader  never.  Tecumseh  was,  indeed, 
a  savage  of  heroic  mold,  one  who  inspired  victory,  and  who, 
when  acting  with  men  such  as  Brock  or  Harvey,  was  almost 
invincible.  His  Indians  would  do  anything  for  him — even 
refrain  from  massacre  or  cruelty — and  the  fear  of  him  felt 
by  the  Americans  was  shown  in  the  unfortunate  indignities 
oifered  to  his  corpse. 

The  next  few  months  saw  some  events  of  bright  import, 
and  attention  must  now  be  transferred  to  Lower  Canada. 
The  French  Canadians  earnestlv  and  enthusiastically  showed 
their  love  for  the  land  of  their  birth  and  home  by  turning 


Blw.i 


H 


162 


THE  STORY   OF  THE   DOMINION 


out  in  large  numbers  and  fighting  bravely  wherever  required 
— notably  on  the  memorable  field  of  Chateauguay. 

'  ATTEMPTS   TO    CAPTURE   MONTREAL 

By  October  an  army  of  8,000  men  had  been  collected  at 
Sackett's  Harbor,  N.  Y.,  under  Generals  Wilkinson  and 
Boyd,  for  the  descent  upon  Montreal  by  way  of  the  St. 
Lawrence.  As  these  forces  descended  the  river  they  were 
followed  by  a  small  and  compact  body  of  British  troops  under 
Colonels  Pearson,  Harvey,  Morrison,  and  Plenderleath,  ac- 
companied by  eight  gunboats  and  three  field-pieces  which 
did  much  damage  to  the  enemy.  On  llsTovember  11th,  Wil- 
kinson and  his  main  army  were  with  the  flotilla  near  Pres- 
cott  and  on  the  way  to  effect  a  junction  with  an  army  under 
General  Hampton  which  was  to  meet  them  at  the  mouth  of 
the  Chateauguay.  General  Boyd,  with  2,500  men,  was 
marching  along  the  shore  followed  by  800  British  troops 
under  Colonel  Morrison  who  had  resolved  to  attack  the 
enemy  at  a  place  called  Chrystler's  Farm.  The  result  was 
one  of  the  most  complete  victories  of  the  war,  the  Ameri- 
cans losing  m.any  prisoners,  besides  389  officers  and  men 
killed  or  wounded.  The  British  loss  was  181.  Boyd  im- 
mediately returned  to  his  boats  and  joined  Wilkinson.  They 
then  proceeded  to  the  place  at  which  the  junction  with 
Hampton  was  to  be  made  and  from  whence  they  were  to 
advance  upon  Montreal. 

Meanwhile,  Hampton  had  marched  from  Lake  Champlain 
with  7,000  men  toward  the  mouth  of  the  Chateauguay.  At 
this  point,  and  amid  the  natural  difficulties  of  forest  sur- 
roundings, he  was  met  on  the  night  of  October  25th  by 
Colonel  de  Salaberry  in  command  of  300  French-Canadian 
militia  and  a  few  Indians  and  supported  by  Colonel  McDon- 
ell  with  another  French  contingent  of  600  men,  who  had 
made  the  most  rapid  forced  march  in  Canadian  history  and 
had  reached  Chateauguay  the  day  before  the  battle.  The 
(Americans  advanced  upon  the  hidden  first  line  with  4,000 
men,  but,  on  driving  it  back,  they  met  the  second  line  under 


THE    WAR    OF   1812-15 


163 


Colonel  McDonell,  and  there  encountered  the  stratagem  of 
buglers  placed  at  considerable  distances  apart  and  sounding 
their  instruments  so  as  to  give  the  impression  of  large  num- 
bers, while  at  the  same  time  the  bewildering  yells  and  war- 
cries  of  some  fifty  scattered  Indians  immensely  increased 
the  uproar  and  tumult.  The  immediate  result  was  the  de- 
feat of  the  American  forces,  their  retreat  on  the  following 
day  and  their  consequent  failure  to  meet  Wilkinson  at  the 
mouth  of  the  Chateauguay. 

This  failure  involved  the  collapse  of  an  elaborate  campaign 
of  15,000  men  for  the  capture  of  Montreal,  through  the 
timely  gallantry  and  clever  leadership  of  two  little  armies 
of  about  2,000  men  altogether.  One  of  the  curious  incidents 
of  the  battle  of  Chateauguay  was  when  Colonel  de  Salaberry 
— his  first  line  of  troops  being  forced  back  by  overwhelming 
numbers — held  his  own  ground  in  the  darkness  with  a  bugler 
boy  whom  he  caused  to  sound  the  advance  for  McDonell — 
thus  giving  the  latter  an  opportunity  to  put  into  effect  the 
stratagem  which  led  the  American  General  to  think  he  was 
opposed  by  several  thousand  men.  A  less  pleasing  incident 
was  the  mean  and  untruthful  manner  in  which  Prevost  en- 
deavored in  his  despatches  to  take  the  whole  credit  of  this 
victory  to  himself.*  Despite  this,  the  facts  became  known 
— largely  through  the  intervention  of  H.  K.  H.  the  Duke  of 
Kent,  who  had  often  proved  himself  a  friend  to  De  Sala- 
berry— and  at  the  end  of  the  war  McDonell  and  De  Sala- 
berry were  each  decorated  with  a  C.  B. 

In  Upper  Canada  during  this  period  there  had  been  an- 
other glaring  evidence  of  Prevost's  incapacity.  Frightened 
by  the  apparent  results  of  Procter's  defeat  near  Moravian- 
town,  he  had  ordered  the  British  commander  at  Burlington 
and  York  (General  Vincent)  to  abandon  all  his  posts  and  re- 
tire upon  Kingston.  Had  this  been  done  the  Upper  Province 
would  have  been  practically  in  American  hands.  Instead  of 
doing  so,  however,  Vincent  maintained  his  ground,  and  Colonel 


I 


Notably  that  of  31st  of  October,  1813. 


164 


THE  STORY    OF   THJS   DOMINION 


Murray,  with  some  378  regulars  and  a  few  volunteers  and  In- 
dians, was  givei  permission  some  weeks  later  to  advance  upon 
the  enemy  who,  with  2,700  men  under  General  McCiure, 
was  holding  Fort  George.  On  December  10th  the  latter 
evacuated  the  Fort,  but  before  doing  so  wantonly  and  cruelly 
burned  to  the  ground  the  neighboring  village  (and  one-time 
capital)  of  Newark.  It  was  a  cold  winter's  night,  and  the 
beautiful  little  village  contained  chiefly  women  and  children 
— the  men  being  either  away  at  the  front  or  prisoners  across 
the  river.  The  unfortunate  inhabitants  were  driven  into 
the  snow  without  shelter  and  in  many  cases  very  scantily 
clothed.  British  retribution  was  swift.  The  American  Fort 
Niagara,  just  across  the  river,  was  promptly  stormed  and 
held  until  the  end  of  the  war,  and  the  neighboring  villages 
of  Lewistown,  Youngstown,  Manchester,  and  Tuscarora  were 
burned.  These  events  closed  the  campaign  of  1813,  at  the 
end  of  which  the  Americans  only  held  possession  of  Am- 
herstburg,  on  the  frontier  of  Upper  Canada,  and,  besides 
losing  all  the  benefits  of  Harrison's  success  against  the  in- 
capable Procter,  had  also  lost  Fort  Niagara  on  the  American 
side  and  with  it  the  control  of  the  frontier  in  that  direction. 

THE   STRUGGLE   OF   1814 

General  Sir  Gordon  Drummond,  a  brave  and  able  officer, 
had  meanwhile  become  Administrator  and  Commander  in 
Upper  Canada,  and  this  fact  had  much  influence  upon  the 
succeeding  struggle  of  1814.  This  last  campaign  of  the  war 
commenced  with  another  advance  from  Lake  Champlain  by 
4,000  men  under  General  Wilkinson.  It  was  checked,  and 
eventually  repulsed,  on  March  30th  by  a  gallant  handful  of 
some  300  men  commanded  by  Major  Handcock,  at  Lacolle's 
Mill — a  small  stone  building  on  the  Lacolle  River,  and  about 
a  third  of  the  way  between  Plattsburg  and  Montreal.  A 
little  later  Michilimackinac  was  relieved  by  Colonel  Mc- 
Donell,  and  in  May,  Sir  Gordon  Drummond  and  Sir  James 
Yeo,  the  naval  Commander,  captured  Fort  Oswego  on  the 
New  York  side  of  Lake  Ontario,  together  with  some  valu- 


THE    WAR    OF   181S-15 


165 


JS 

e 
1- 


ablo  naval  stores.  Meantiino,  some  minor  defeats  had  been 
encountered  by  British  detachments,  and  early  in  luiy 
Major-General  Brown,  with  5,000  troops,  backed  by  4,0o0 
New  York  militia,  which  had  been  ordered  out  and  author- 
ized for  the  war,  invaded  Upper  C?iuada  from  Buffalo.  To 
meet  this  attack  Drummond  had  about  4,000  effective  regu- 
lars, depleted  however  by  the  necessity  of  garrisoning  a  num- 
ber of  important  j)08ts.  His  difficulties  in  meeting  the  inva- 
sion were  also  increased  by  the  seeming  impossibility  of  mak- 
ing Prevost  understand  the  situation  and  the  need  of  rein- 
forcements. The  latter  could  only  see  the  menace  offered  to 
Lower  Canada  by  the  massed  forces  at  Lake  Champlain. 

Fort  Erie  surrendered  to  the  Americans  on  July  3d,  and 
General  Riall  was  defeated  at  Chippewa  two  days  later,  with 
the  loss  of  511  men  killed  or  wounded.  The  victorious  Amer- 
ican advance  was  checked,  however,  at  Lundy's  Lane,  where 
Sir  Gordon  Drummond,  who  had  come  up  from  Kingston 
with  800  men,  assumed  command,  and  on  July  25th,  within 
sound  of  the  roar  of  Niagara  Falls  and  in  the  most  beautiful 
part  of  a  picturesque  and  fertile  region,  there  was  fought  the 
fiercest  battle  of  the  whole  war,  and  one  which  continued  dur- 
ing the  greater  part  of  a  dark  night.  The  victory  is  variously 
claimed,  but  the  bare  facts  are  that,  after  trying  for  six  hours 
with  5,000  men  to  force  a  British  position  held  by  half  that 
number.  Brown  had  to  retire  to  Chippewa  with  a  loss  of  930 
men  as  against  Drummond's  loss  of  870,  and  with  his  advance 
effectually  checked.  On  the  26th  he  retreated  to  Fort  Erie, 
and  was  there  shortly  after  attacked  unsuccessfully  by  the 
British  with  a  loss  to  the  latter  of  500  men.  Until  Septem- 
ber, however,  he  was  blockaded  within  the  walls  of  the  Fort. 

The  struggle  with  Napoleon  in  Europe  was  now  tempo- 
rarily over,  and  10,000  trained  and  experienced  British 
troops  had  been,  meanwhile,  landed  at  Quebec.  Prevost  ad- 
vanced with  a  force  of  12,000  of  these  troops  to  Plattsburg, 
where  he  was  to  co-operate  with  the  British  fleet  on  Lake 
Champlain.  The  latter  was  defeated,  however,  and  the  Brit- 
ish general,  with  an  army  which,  under  Brock,  might  have 


tx- 


;" 


4i'''0 


166 


THE  IITORY   OF   THE   DOMINION 


menaced  New  York  City  itself,  ignominiously  retreated  in  the 
face  of  two  or  thr(3e  thousand  American  soldiers.*  So  far  as 
the  Canadas  were  concerned  territorially  this  practically 
ended  the  war.  Despite  Provost's  dis^ace  at  Plattsbiirg,  the 
campaign  for  the  year  terminated  with  the  British  control 
of  Lake  Ontario — although  the  Americans  were  masters  of 
Lake  Erie — and  with  their  possession  of  several  forts  on 
American  soil,  to  say  nothing  of  a  portion  of  the  State  of 
Maine. 

In  the  Maritime  Provinces  the  struggle  had  not  been  so 
severely  felt.  Major-General  Sherbrooke  was  Lieutenant- 
Governor  of  Nova  Scotia,  and,  through  the  vicinity  of  the 
British  fleet  at  Halifax  and  the  presence  of  a  sufficient  num- 
ber of  regulars,  was  able  in  1814  to  make  a  series  of  attacks 
upon  the  coast  and  frontier  of  Maine  until  the  whole  region 
from  Penobscot  to  the  St.  Croix  was  in  British  hands.  Sher- 
brooke had  also  been  sending  troops  up  to  Canada  whenever 
possible,  and  the  march  of  the  104th  Regiment  in  February, 
1813,  through  hundreds  of  miles  of  frozen  wilderness,  was  of 
special  interest  as  well  as  importance. 

Elsewhere  on  sea  and  land  the  war  had  been  equally  varied. 
A  number  of  naval  victories  were  won  by  the  United  States 
as  well  as  by  Great  Britain,  but,  excluding  the  actions  fought 
in  Canadian  waters,  there  seems  in  nearly  every  case  of 
American  victory  to  have  been  a  great  superiority  on  their 
part  in  men,  guns,  metal,  and  tonnage.  The  purely  British 
part  of  the  campaign  of  1814  included  the  capture  of  the 
City  of  Washington  and  the  burning  of  its  public  buildings  in 
revenge  for  the  previous  harrying  of  the  Niagara  frontier  and 
burnings  of  York  and  Newark.  An  unsuccessful  attempt  was 
also  made  to  capture  New  Orleans.  The  terrible  bloodshed 
of  this  last  struggle  of  the  war — over  3,000  British  troops 
were  reported  killed,  wounded,  or  missing — was  the  result  of 
ignorance  of  the  fact  that  on  December  24,  1814,  a  treaty  of 
peace  had  been  signed  at  Ghent. 


*  He  was  recalled  and  only  escaped  the  condemnation  of  a  Court- 
Martial  by  death. 


THE    WAR    OF   18 IS- 15 


107 


THE  EFFECTS  OF  THE  STRUGGLE 

The  immediate  cflFects  of  the  Htrugglo  are  clear  upon  the 
})agcs  of  liistory.  The  Americana  obtained  not  a  foot  of  Brit- 
ish territory  and  not  a  solitary- sentimental  advantage.  Their 
seaboard  was  insulted  and  injured,  thoir  capital  city  partially 
destroyed,  and  l},()00  of  thoir  vessels  captured.  The  immense 
gain  to  their  carrying  trade  which  had  ])reviously  accrued  as 
a  result  of  England's  conflict  with  Napoleon  was  neutralized, 
while  their  annual  exports  were  reduced  to  almost  nothing 
and  their  commercial  classes  nearly  ruined.  A  vast  war-tax 
was  incurred  and  New  England  rendered  disaffected  for  years 
to  come.  The  twin  questions  of  right  of  search  and  the  posi- 
tion of  neutrals  in  time  of  war  which  had  been  the  nominal 
causes  of  the  conflict  were  not  even  mentioned  in  the  Treaty 
of  Ghent.  Some  military  and  naval  glory  was  won,  but  the 
odds  were  in  favor  of  the  United  States  throughout  the  strug- 
gle, and,  when  England's  hands  were  finally  freed  by  Welling- 
ton's march  upon  Paris,  the  war  ceased.  In  many  of  these 
conflicts,  however,  both  on  sea  and  land — notably  in  the  fa- 
mous duel  of  the  Chesapeake  and  the  Shannon,  when  Sir 
Prove  Wallis,  of  Nova  Scotian  birth,  laid  the  foundation  of 
fame  and  fortune — United  States  soldiers  and  seamen  showed 
the  courage  and  skill  of  the  race  from  which  they  had  sprung. 

To  Great  Britain  the  war  had  been  only  one  more  military 
and  naval  burden.  It  added  to  her  difficulties  in  fighting 
France,  subsidizing  Europe  and  holding  the  seas  against  the 
sweeping  ambitions  of  Napoleon.  But  her  struggle  for  life 
or  death  had  been  so  prolonged  in  this  connection  and  the 
shadow  of  its  wings  so  dark  and  menacing,  that  the  conflict 
in  Canada  did  not  then,  and  has  not  since,  attracted  tkc  at- 
tention it  deserved.  While  this  was  natural  enough  at  that 
period,  the  time  has  now  come  when  the  position  should  be 
changed  and  the  memories  of  Brock  and  De  Salaberry,  Mor- 
rison and  McDonell,  Harvey  and  Drummond,  be  given  their 
place  in  the  historic  pantheon  of  Empire.  Canadian  difficul- 
ties in  the  struggle  should  be  understood,  the  courage  of  its 


■ril 


168 


THE   STORY    OF   THE   DOMINION 


paople  comprehended,  the  results  of  the  conflict  appreciated. 
The  conflict  meant  more  than  the  mere  details  of  skirmishes, 
battles,  and  t''.e  rout  of  invading  armies  would  indicate.  It 
involved  considerations  greater  than  may  be  seen  in  the  ordi- 
nary record  of  campaigns  in  which  the  Canadian  militia  and 
British  regulars  appear  as  able  to  hold  their  own  in  a  pro- 
longed struggle. 

That  a  population  of  500,000  people,  scattered  over  widely 
sundered  areas,  should  be  able,  almost  unaided,  to  thus  suc- 
cpssfully  oppose  the  aggressive  action  of  an  organized  repub- 
Mc  of  eight  millioiio  was  an  extraordinary  military  perform- 
ance, and  it  in  not  unnatural  that,  in  considering  the  record 
and  the  result,  it  has  been  chiefly  done  from  the  military 
standpoint.  To  the  upbuilding  of  Canada,  however,  the  war 
holds  a  place  not  dissimilar  in  national  import  to  that  of  the 
Revolution  in  United  States  history. 

It  consolidated  the  British  sentiment  of  the  whole  popula- 
tion from  the  shores  of  Lake  Huron  to  the  coasts  of  the  At- 
lantic. It  eliminated  much  of  the  disloyal  element  which  was 
beginning  to  eat  into  the  vitals  of  Provincial  life  in  Upper 
Cfinada ;  and  modified  in  some  measure  i.^ie  force  of  the  Amer- 
ican spirit  which  remained  in  the  hearts  of  a  section  of  its 
settlers.  It  checked  the  growth  of  Republicanism  among  the 
French  of  Lower  Canada  and  helped  to  prevent  the  Rebel- 
lion of  183Y  in  that  Province  from  being  the  rising  of  a  whole 
people  united  in  political  s^  mpathies — as  were  its  leaders — 
with  the  great  and  growing  population  to  the  south.  It  made 
the  authorities  of  the  }loman  Catholic  Church  in  the  same 
part  of  the  ecu  itry  ft  el  once  more  as  they  did  when  the  Con- 
tinental Congress  of  1775  attacked  the  Quebec  Act,  that  tne 
only  "isible  '^  anger  to  what  they  considered  the  s?cred  rights 
and  privileges  of  their  faith  came  fron.  the  other  side  of  the 
international  line.  It,  f\  a  time,  brought  Canadians  and 
French  and  English  extract 'on  togetner  in  defence  of  their 
hearths  and  homes,  und  la'd  in  this  fact  an  almost  indsible 
foundation  for  thnt  seemingly  vain  vision — the  permanent 
Federal  Union  of  British  America  for  purposes,  of  common 


AN   ERA    OF   AGITATION 


169 


defence,  interests,  and  government.  It  affected  powerful  re- 
ligious organizations,  such  as  the  Methodist  denomination, 
which  were  becoming  dependen*^  un  American  pulpits,  sup- 
plies, and  polity.  It  affected  social  life  and  customs  by  draw- 
ing still  more  distinc'  the  Loyalist  line  against  innovations 
from  the  other  side  of  the  border.  Finally,  it  greatly  affected 
political  development  and  assured  the  ultimate  success  of 
those  who  strove  honestly,  though  sometimes  mistakenly  in 
detail,  to  preserve  and  promote  the  permanent  acceptance  of 
British,  as  opposed  to  American,  principles  of  government 
upon  the  northern  half  of  the  continent. 


ir 

le 
it 


CHAPTEE     X 

AN  ERA    OF  AGITATION 

IN  the  early  years  of  the  century  there  began  to  develop 
in  the  Canadas — and  especially  in  Lower  Canada,  as 
Quebec  had  come  to  be  called — the  seeds  of  a  violent 
constitutional  agitation.  It  arose  in  the  latter  Province  out 
of  the  well-intentioned  but  mistaken  policy  of  giving  the 
forms  of  free  self-government  to  a  people  who  know  nothing 
of  the  reality.  To  confer  British  institutions  upon  men  of 
French  origin  was  in  itself  an  extraordinary  proceeding;  but 
when  it  is  rem,embered  that  these  French  Canadians  had  been, 
in  1791,  only  a  generation  removed  from  the  subjects  of 
France  in  the  most  despotic  of  Bourbon  days,  and  that  they 
had  changed  very  slightly  since  that  time  in  either  character, 
experience,  or  knowledge,  it  seems  still  more  so. 

INFLUENCE    OF    THE    POLITICIAN 

The  habitant  of  that  period,  and  during  the  succeeding 
thirty  years,  knew  nothing  of  government  except  in  tradi- 
tional memorifs  of  autocracy  and  in  his  present  perception 
of  the  position  of  his  Seigneur  as  having  control  of  the  land 
and  its  taxation  and  his  Priest  as  having  charge  of  his  soul, 
his  morals,  and  hifl  pleasures.     As  time  passed,  however,  he 

DOMINION— fl 


m 


170 


THE   STORY    OF    THE   DOMlNlODf- 


began  to  see  another  influence — the  politician  or  demagogu© 
— and  was  assured  that  the  English  Parliament  had  given 
to  the  French  Canadians  an  Assembly  by  which  they  were 
to  govern  their  ':^wn  country;  but  that  the  English  in  Lower 
Canada  would  not  allow  it  full  control.  The  tyranny  of  the 
Executive  Council,  which  advised  the  Governor-General,  and 
of  the  Legislative  Council,  which  threw  out  any  legislation 
of  an  advanced  kind  emanating  from  the  Assembly,  were 
portrayed  to  him  in  vivid  colors. 

The  habitant  naturally  did  not  understand  matters  very 
clearly.  He  began  to  believe  that  it  was  a  question  of  En- 
glish against  French,  and  that  the  Assembly  was  a  weapon 
granted  by  Providence  with  which  to  smite  the  tyrants  whom 
an  English  King  had  placed  in  po\ver.  The  French-Cana- 
dian peasant  can  hardly  be  blamed  for  this.  He  had  not 
advanced  in  education  as  he  had  advanced  in  the  responsibili- 
ties of  government.  The  voter  going  to  the  polls  of  Lower 
Canada  in  1800,  or  1820,  knew  as  much  of  the  principles  of 
self -government  as  his  father  had  done  in  the  days  of  Bigot 
or  his  grandfather  under  Louis  XIV.  He  had  no  knowledge 
of  even  the  rudiments  of  municipal  control  and  management, 
to  say  nothing  of  the  theories  and  precedents  and  principles 
and  intricate  practices  of  Parliamentary  rule.  He  was 
plunged  in  an  instant  into  a  condition  of  affairs  which  it 
had  taken  centuries  of  evolution  and  struggle  and  civil  war 
to  reach  in  England  itself;  and  it  was  little  wonder  if  he 
failed  to  understand  the  workings  of  the  system.  Still  less 
surprising  was  it  that  the  whisperings  of  agitators  and  tho 
traditions  of  racial  feeling  should  have  stirred  him  up  to 
use  his  privileges  in  order  to  obtain  more,  and  to  vent,  at  the 
same  time,  his  prejudices  against  an  alien  authority  which, 
in  certriin  phases,  and  d(^spite  the  best  of  intentions,  was 
natu^pily  antagonistic  to  him. 

RACIAL   AND   CLASS    HOSTILITY 

The  English  people  in  Qdebec  and  Montreal  comprised 
the  govorning  class  of  the  community,  and,  in  time,  included 


^JV   ERA    OF  AGITATION 


171 


a  large  mercantile  and  commercial  element.  The  French, 
on  the  other  hand,  were  essentially  rural  and  agricultural  in 
occupation,  and  their  material  interests  were  therefore  easily 
made  to  app(  ar  in  antagonism  to  those  of  the  urban  centres. 
So  that,  as  years  passed  on,  within  the  circle  of  racial  hostil- 
ity there  was  to  be  found  a  smaller  circle  of  class  hostility. 
Both  found  expression  in  the  Legislature  and  in  certain  news- 
papers of  the  rabid  type.  As  the  ensuing  political  appeals 
and  denunciations  and  explanations  were  in  different  lan- 
guages, they  altogether  failed  to  reach  the  other  side,  and, 
consequently,  intensified  the  racial  feeling — especially  on  the 
part  of  the  French  masses. 

The  Seigneurs  were  not  as  numerous  c  in  the  days  before 
the  Conquest,  but  they  were  still  a  strong  class  in  the  com- 
munity and  with  a  tendency  to  lend  their  influence  to  mod- 
erate councils.  The  Governors,  both  before  and  after  the 
period  of  military  rule,  did  their  utmost  to  conciliate  the 
I  rench  gentry ;  and  only  a  lack  of  forcefulness  in  character 
and  ability  in  statecraft  seems  to  have  prevented  the  latter 
from  sharing  considerably  in  the  government.  More  than 
one  of  the  despatches  sent  to  the  Colonial  Office  during  thiq 
period  bear  testimony  to  the  paucity  of  capable  and  suitable 
French  Canadians  from  whom  members  of  the  Councils 
might  be  chosen.  The  inevitable  result  of  all  this  was  that 
men  of  British  birth  or  extraction  held  the  reins  of  power, 
and  guarded,  more  or  less  securely,  the  avenues  of  approach 
to  >ffice. 

Though  the  administrations  of  Lord  Amherst  and  General 
Murray,  General  Carleton  and  General  Haldiraand,  Lord 
Dorchester*  and  General  Prescott — 1760  to  1799  —  were 
more  or  less  military  in  their  nature,  the  Assembly,  which 
was  first  organized  in  1792,  proved  comparatively  amenable 
to  the  necessities  of  the  situation,  and  was  not  yet  filled  with 
too  great  a  sense  of  its  power  and  opportunities.  The  first 
meeting  of  this  body,  however^,  gave  some  faint  indications 

•  Guy  Carleton,  created  Baron  Dorchester  in  1786,  and  appointed  for 
the  second  time  as  Governor-General  of  British  America. 


^  I 


Ml 


172 


THE   STORY    OF    THE   DOMINION 


of  what  was  coming.  It  passed  a  loyal  Address  to  the  King, 
which  proved  the  first  of  a  long  series  of  similar  Resolutions, 
which  were  introduced  from  time  to  time  whenever  some  in- 
novation was  about  to  be  proposed,  or  some  old  proposal  to 
be  renewed  and  pressed  in  varying  degrees  of  violence.  It 
preceded  this  action  by  the  very  natural  selection  of  a  French 
Canadian  as  Speaker,  and  followed  it  up  by  a  Resolution 
demanding  the  use  of  both  the  French  and  English  languages 
in  debate  and  in  the  published  documents  of  the  Assembly. 
The  membership  of  the  House  of  Assembly,  it  may  be  added, 
numbered  fifty  at  this  time,  and  was  almost  entirely  French, 
while  the  Legislative  Council  numbered  fifteen,  and  was  al- 
most entirely  English  in  composition. 

Gradually,  disputes  between  the  two  bodies  developed, 
and  by  the  opening  of  the  century  promised  very  clearly  to 
produce  a  violent  future.  The  Assembly  claimed  full  control 
of  the  revenues,  without  knowing  how  to  make  the  necessary 
constitutional  changes,  and  without  proposing  anything  practi- 
cable in  the  way  of  a  new  system.  As  things  were,  the  Govern- 
or was  responsible  to  the  Crown — or  the  British  Cabinet — for 
his  administration  of  funds,  which  came  in  part  from  excise 
and  customs  levied  under  Imperial  enactment,  in  part  from 
taxes  controlled  by  the  Assembly  and  Council  together,  and 
in  part  from  moneys  contributed  by  the  Imperial  Govern- 
ment to  the  payment  of  salaries  and  for  special  purposes  of 
military  necessity. 

It  was  a  difficult  enough  problem  had  there  been  no  racial 
antagonisms,  or  religious  complications,  or  diverse  lan- 
guages. No  party  in  Quebec,  either  in  1800,  or  in  1837, 
when  tha  troubles  had  developed  into  rebellion,  understood 
or  demanded  a  full  system  of  Ministerial  government  and 
responsibility  such  as  the  Province  and  Dominion  have  to- 
day. This  point  is  of  ^he  greatest  importance,  and  is  usually 
overlooked  in  the  study  of  these  times.  Looking  back  now  it 
is  easy  to  see  that  the  Council  was  intended  as  a  "buffer" 
between  the  Assembly  and  the  King's  Representative;  that 
it  did  net  serve  this  purpose  very  long,  as  the  French  masses 


AN   ERA    OF   AGITATION 


178 


soon  came  to  consider  the  two  identical;  that  there  were  no 
dc])artments  of  government  administrating  different  matters 
and  respon^iible  to  Parliament  for  the  j^erformance  of  duty, 
and,  especially,  for  the  management  of  moneys;  that  there 
was  no  Premier  responsible  to  the  Assembly  for  the  composi- 
tion of  his  Cabinet  and  the  policy  of  his  Province,  and  that 
none  was  asked  for ;  that  the  spirit  which  soon  showed  itself 
among  the  leaders  of  the  French  Canadians  was  not  one  cal- 
culated to  encourage  the  formulation  from  England  of 
schemes  for  a  Ministerial  responsibility  which  was  not  un- 
derstood and  practiced,  even  there,  as  it  was  after  the  days 
of  the  Reform  Bill;  that  no  glimmering  had  yet  come  to 
either  English  Liberals  or  Tories  of  a  Colonial  Governor  act- 
ing as  the  constitutional  sovereign  of  a  free  people,  and  yet 
representing  in  very  real  fashion  the  Crown  of  the  Empire. 
These  things  can  form  no  part  of  any  written  constitution, 
and  could  only  develop  out  of  passing  years  and  growing 
experience. 

THE  PKOBLEM  AFTEB  THE  WAR  OF  1812 

The  problem,  as  it  revived  after  the  War  of  1812,  was 
very  complex,  and  can  only  be  fairly  and  fully  understood 
by  entire  disassociation  from  the  stormy  debates  and  feelings 
of  the  times,  and  from  the  prejudices  perpetuated  by  much 
historical  writing  of  a  biased  character.  It  may  be  taken 
for  granted,  and  as  a  basis  for  any  such  study  of  the  situa- 
tion, that  there  was  good  in  all  parties  to  the  prolonged  dis- 
pute in  all  the  Provinces.  The  Imperial  Government  acted 
from  the  first  without  a  selfish  or  unworthy  motive,  and  de- 
spite the  limitless  trouble  which  the  Colonial  controversies 
necessarily  created.  It  was  always  anxious  to  conciliate  fac- 
tions, always  ready  to  concede  every  claim  which  seemed 
safe  from  the  standpoint  of  the  time,  always  desirous  of 
sending  good  men  to  administer  affairs  in  an  honest  and  hon- 
orable fashion.  But  the  mistake  of  the  Colonial  Office  was 
in  its  failure  to  preserve  continuity  of  policy,  its  misfortune 
was  in  being  subject  to  party  changes  at  home,  its  fault — a 


174 


THE   STORY   OF    THE   DOMINION 


very  natural  one — was  in  not  always  understanding  the  situ- 
ation clearly. 

The  Governors  of  the  Colonies  in  British  America  were, 
upon  the  whole,  a  splendid  class  of  men.  No  more  honor- 
able and  able  administrators  can  be  found  in  the  pages  of 
history  than  Lord  Dorchester,  Sir  Frederick  Haldimand,  Sir 
J.  Coape  Sherbrooke,  the  Earl  of  Dalhousie,  Sir  John  Went- 
worth.  Sir  Peregrine  Maitland,  Major-General  Simcoe,  Sir 
John  Colborne  (Lord  Seaton),  Sir  Howard  Douglas,  or  Sir 
John  Harvey.  There  were  exceptions,  of  course,  but  even 
where  ability  or  tact  was  lacking  there  is  not  in  all  Canadian 
annals  the  case  of  a  British  Governor  guilty  of  dishonorable 
or  mean  public  actions — unless  it  be  the  conduct  of  Sir 
George  Prevost  in  the  War  of  1812,  when  acting  as  a  military 
leader.  This  is  an  excellent  record  in  the  making  of  a  young 
country.  Yet  many  of  the  Governors  were  intensely  unpop- 
ular. In  Lower  Canada  the  feeling  was  largely  racial,  and 
applied  to  all  who  did  not  come  out  with  the  deliberate  ob- 
ject of  giving  the  majority  everything  that  they  asked  for. 
In  the  other  Provinces  it  was  due  to  their  identification  with 
a  party  in  the  Colony — the  party  of  pronounced  loyalty  and 
of  the  power  which  goes  with  the  possession  of  office. 

It  is  really  hard  to  see  how  they  could  have  avoided  this. 
To  nearly  all  of  them,  from  Sir^  James  Craig  upward,  the 
French  party  in  Lower  Canada  meant  danger  to  British  in- 
terests and  supremacy;  the  Radical  party  in  Upper  Canada 
meont  republicanism,  American  institutions,  and  annexation 
efforts  which  might  involve  war  with  the  United  States. 
To  grant  privileges  to  the  more  moderate  and  loyal  opposition 
party  in  the  Maritime  Provinc^e  which  it  was  not  deemed  wise 
to  give  in  the  Canadas  was,  of  course,  impossible.  But  many 
of  them  were  not  wise  in  details  of  administration  and  in  the 
treatment  of  opponents ;  whih?  the  fact  of  having  no  Premier, 
or  responsible  Ministry,  left  them  open  to  all  the  ills  of 
personal  attack  and  political  bitterness — often  a  sorry  posi- 
tion for  the  Sovereign's  Representative  to  be  placed  in. 

The  governing  party  in  these  years  stood  for  much  that 


AN   ERA    OF   AGITATION 


175 


' 


Canadians  now  hold  dear.  In  Lower  Canada  thev  believed 
in  the  protection  of  the  British  minority  in  a  Bi'itish  country, 
and,  judging  by  the  debates  in  the  French  House  of  Asst-m- 
bly  and  the  character  of  the  conflict  which  eventually  devel- 
oped, the  only  way  this  protection  could  have  been  main- 
tained in  that  period  of  constitutional  ignorance  and  racial 
bitterness  was  by  the  policy  of  English  administration  and 
through  the  check  afforded  by  an  English  Council  controlling 
the  legislation  of  a  French  Assembly.  In  the  other  Provinces 
they  stood  for  a  belief,  groun  into  the  very  marrow  of  the 
Loyalists'  bones  by  experience  in  the  American  Revolution, 
that  the  Governor  should  have  considerable  powers,  should 
wield  them  consistently  and  firmly,  and  should  give  no  counte- 
nance to  democracy.  To  the  dominant  party  in  these  years 
democracy  spelt  republicanism,  and  the  latter  involved  every- 
thing which  they  most  detested,  which  they  had  fought  against 
long  and  strenuously,  and  to  avoid  the  results  of  which  they 
had  suffered  all  the  privations  of  pioneer  life.  Moreover, 
they  believed  themselves,  not  without  reason,  to  be  the  mak- 
ers of  English-speaking  Canada,  and  naturally  resented  the 
criticism  of  ignorant  and  indifferent  new-comers  and  the  free 
antagonism  of  Radical  agitators  from  other  lands. 

VIEWS    AND   MISTAKES   OF   THE    GOVERNING   PARTIES 

Their  mistake  was  in  being  too  autocratic  and  exclusive, 
in  not  trying  to  teach  the  incoming  population  more  of  the 
history  of  the  past,  in  making  the  Government  appear  to  the 
masses  as  not  the  representative  of  a  great  principle,  which 
in  large  measure  it  really  and  honestly  was,  but  as  an  oli- 
garchy based  upon  privilege  and  formed  from  a  class.  On 
the  other  hand,  the  people  had  much  to  complain  of.  In 
Lower  Canada,  French  Canadians  were  practically  excluded 
from  the  Councils  and  the  Bench.  There  were  occasional 
irregularities  in  the  administration  of  justice.  There  was 
much  offensiveness  in  the  autocratic  bearing  of  English  ap- 
pointees to  high  position.  There  was  natural  antagonism 
between  the  agricultural  and  rural  interests  of  the  French 


176 


THE   STORY    OF   THE   DOMINION 


and  the  mercantile  and  city  interests  of  the  English.  There 
was  a  not  unreasonable  and  intense  popular  desire  to  control 
the  purse-strings  of  the  Province.  There  was  objection  to 
the  officials  holding  several  positions  at  the  same  time,  to 
Judges  sitting  in  the  Legislative  Council,  to  a  Protestant 
Bishop  sharing  in  the  administration  of  secular  affairs. 

Yet  the  settlement  of  these  matters  was  rendered  difficult, 
if  not  impossible,  by  the  position  which  the  French  majority 
in  the  Assembly  assumed.  When  a  Frenchman  was  offered 
and  accepted  a  place  on  the  Council,  or  the  Bench,  he  lost  all 
influence  and  reputation  among  his  compatriots.  When  any 
trivial  fault  was  found  to  be  a  fact  in  the  administration  of 
justice,  it  became  the  basis  for  wild  and  reckless  onslaughts 
upon  all  the  Judges.  The  exclusiveness  of  the  English  mi- 
nority v^as  well  matched  by  that  of  the  French  majority,  and 
all  the  lavish  hospitality  and  evident  good-will  of  successive 
Governors  could  not  bring  the  races  together.  Over  and  over 
again  it  was  proposed  by  the  Government  that  Judges  should 
be  made  independent  of  politics  and  excluded  from  seats  in 
the  Councils,  but  the  measure  always  broke  upon  the  rock  of 
the  Assembly's  concurrent  demand  to  control  the  payment  ^T>d 
amount  of  their  salaries,  and,  therefore,  to  control  the  actual 
appointments  and  the  Bench  itself. 

In  Upper  Canada  and  in  the  Provinces  by  the  sea,  as  new 
settlers  poured  in,  they  found  a  situation  which  was  nat- 
urally not  altogether  palatable  to  them.  Between  1800  and 
•  1812  a  large  number  of  Americans  came  to  Upper  Canada. 
In  1816  disbanded  soldiers  and  officers  from  the  armies  which 
had  so  long  fought  Napoleon  migrated  in  large  bodies  to 
British  America.  In  1831,  there  were  34,000  new  settlers, 
while  in  the  four  years  preceding  1829  there  had  been  160,- 
000  of  them.  Into  the  Maritime  Provinces  camo  a  large  in- 
flux of  Scotchmen  and  not  a  few  Americans.  These  new- 
comers were  of  all  schools  of  thought — Tory  and  Whig  and 
Radical  and  Republican.  They  were  of  all  nationalities — 
English  and  Welsh  and  Scotch  and  Irish  and  Americana 
chiefly.     They  brought  with  them  aggressive  views  very  fre- 


^ 


^iV    ERA    OF  AGITATION 


177 


quently  out  of  touch  with,  if  not  bitterly  opposed  to,  the 
opinions  of  the  Loyalist  rulers  of  the  country.  They  found 
themselves  with  practically  no  voice  in  public  affairs  owing 
to  the  veto  of  the  Legislative  Council  upon  Assembly  enact- 
ments and  the  intrenched  position  of  the  Loyalists  behind  a 
bulwark  of  prestige,  custom,  social  influence,  gradually  grow- 
ing wealth,  and  the  power  of  the  strong  and  practically  estab- 
lished Church  cf  England. 

Naturally,  the  Scotch  and  English  Radicals,  all  the  men 
who  had  left  the  Old  Land  from  motives  of  discontent,  the 
Irish  Catholics,  and  English  Methodists,  and  the  American 
settlers  generally,  resented  the  situation  and  organized,  as 
time  went  by,  in  opposition  to  it  and  to  the  men  who  ruled  the 
Province.  They  had  much  of  right  on  their  side,  but  it  was 
marred  in  immediate  effect  and  in  the  eye  of  impartial  his- 
tory by  violence  of  language  and  unnecessary  fierceness  of 
agitation ;  by  leaders  who  professed  a  democracy  not  far  from 
American  republicanism  in  character :  by  a  disloyalty,  among 
American  settlers  especially,  which  showed  itself  strongly  in 
the  stern  struggle  of  1812  and  in  the  subsequent  troubles  of 
1837 ;  by  an  utter  indifference  to  the  undoubted  services  of 
the  Loyalists  to  the  country  and  empire ;  by  demanding  im- 
possibilities without  clearly  knowing  what  they  themselves 
wanted ;  by  a  desire  to  obtain  office  at  least  as  strong  as  the 
much-abused  wish  of  the  dominant  party  to  retain  it.  In  the 
Maritime  Provinces  this  analysis  holds  good  except  that  the 
actively  disloyal  factor  has  to  be  eliminated  from  the  pur- 
view as  well  as  something  of  the  violence  of  agitation  and 
sentiment. 

The  details  of  the  struggle  in  the  two  Canadas  which  led 
up  to  the  Rebellion  of  1837  and  which  were  fought  under  the 
conditions  already  outlined  must  be  briefly  told,  though  in 
reality  the  story  is  a  long  and  complicated  one.*     In  the 


- 


m 


H 


i 


•  Two  bulky  volurnea  are  devoted  to  the  Rebellion  in  Upper  Canada  by 
John  Charles  Dent,  and  to  the  Life  of  W.  L.  Mackenzie  by  Charles  Lind- 
fley;  while  F.  X.  Garneau  has  dealt  at  lengt.h  with  the  Lower  Canada 


MSm 


178 


THE   STORY   OF   THE   DOMINION 


Lower  Province  the  racial  complication  ran  through  every 
measure  propoaod  by  the  Assembly  and  opposed  by  the  Coun- 
cil, and  must  always  bo  borne  in  mind  in  reading  any  narra- 
tive of  the  events  of  that  period.  The  first  important  conflict 
began  in  1808  with  the  arrival  of  Sir  James  Henry  Craig  as 
Governor-General.  There  had  been  mutterings  of  trouble 
before,  demands  on  the  part  of  the  Assembly  for  fuller  con- 
trol of  appointments  and  of  the  revenues,  and  plentiful  de- 
nunciation of  the  Council  as  an  alien  and  intrusive  body. 
Strong  accusations  of  disloyalty  and  of  a  desire  for  absolute 
French  ascendency  had  been  the  principal  response.  The 
strife  was  lulled  for  a  time  by  the  alarm  of  war  with  the 
States,  but  upon  its  temporary  subsidence  and  the  arrival  of 
Sir  James  Craig  it  burst  forth  with  redoubled  violence.  The 
new  Governor  was  a  brave  and  distinguished  soldier,  but  ob- 
stinate and  without  much  tact  or  the  faculty  of  conciliation. 
His  tendency  of  thought  was  to  fear  the  French,  to  dislike 
the  placing  of  additional  power  in  their  hands,  and  to  feel 
the  full  force  of  the  arguments  naturally  brought  before  him 
by  his  English  advisers.  The  great  cry  of  the  moment  was 
the  prohibition  of  Judges  sitting  in  the  Councils,  and  this 
took  up  the  time  of  the  Assembly  to  the  signal  detriment  of 
the  questions  of  defence  which  the  Governor  naturally  con- 
sidered as  much  more  important. 

The  House  was  dissolved  after  several  sessions  of  useless 
recrimination  and  abuse  and  came  back  with  a  stronger 
French  membership  than  before.  Sir  James  and  the  Council 
stood  by  the  Judges,  who  were  being  very  bitterly  and  un- 
justly handled,  and  refused  to  debar  them  from  the  body  in 
which  their  presence  was  undoubtedly  useful  in  those  days  of 
limited  culture  and  independence  of  position,  although  alien  to 
the  full  and  free  system  of  to-day.  Added  disputes  arose  over 
the  expenditures  of  the  Government — a  phrase  which  in  this 
period  meant  the  Governor  and  the  inner  circle  of  an  irre- 

troubles.  These  and  many  other  volumes  upon  various  branches  of  the 
subject  are  valuable  to  the  student,  but  are  nearly  always  one-sided  in 
treatment  thereof. 


AN   ERA    OF   AGITATION 


179 


sponsible  Executive — until  in  despair  of  obtaining  either  leg- 
islation or  peace,  the  Legislature  was  again  dissolved. 

THE   DIFFICULTY   OF  THE   GOVERNOR'S   POSITION 

What  was  the  unfortunare  Governor  from  this  time  onward 
to  do?  He  could  not  give  control  of  all  the  finances  to  the 
Assembly  without  establishing  a  Ministry  responsible  to  that 
body,  and  this  the  Home  Government  could  not  grant  as  in- 
volving the  handing  of  absolute  power  in  the  Province  over  to 
a  French  majority  which  every  day  showed  itself  more  aggres- 
sive and  more  anti-British.  Moreover,  a  not  inconsiderable 
portion  of  the  revenue  still  came  from  England,  or  from  the 
army  chest,  which  was  more  or  less  under  the  Governor's 
control.  The  election  was  of  the  fiercest  character.  Declama- 
tion and  proclamation,  secret  meetings  and  treasonable  news- 
paper comments,  the  seizure  of  "Le  Canadian"  and  impris- 
onment of  particularly  violent  politicians,  followed,  until  the 
French  press  described  the  period  as  a  "Reign  of  Terror." 
The  Assembly  came  back  with  its  French  majority  increased, 
Sir  James  received  a  rebuke  from  the  Colonial  Office — for 
getting  into  trouble  at  a  critical  time,  it  may  be  presumed — 
and,  in  the  end,  the  Judges  were  disqualified  from  sitting  in 
the  Council.     But  the  greater  financial  issue  remained. 

The  American  war  now  intervened  and  cast  its  mingled 
sunshine  and  shadow  over  everything.  Loyalty,  the  power 
of  the  Church,  a  desire  to  retain  their  special  privileges,  an- 
tagonism to  republican  institutions,  a  measure  of  apprecia- 
tion for  British  generosity,  combined  in  differing  degrees  of 
force  to  throw  the  French  Canadians  into  the  struggle  with 
valuable  results  to  British  strength.  Internal  strife  largely 
ceased  during  the  next  two  years,  and  the  French  Assembly, 
delighted  over  the  success  at  Chateauguay,  voted  Sir  George 
Prevost,  as  the  new  Governor-in-Chief,  all  the  grants  of 
money  he  desired.  But  when  the  war  was  over  (before,  in- 
deed, it  could  be  called  so)  the  old  trouble  revived  and  the 
Assembly  demanded  the  impeachment  of  Chief  Justice  Sewell 
and  Judge  Monk  on  charges  of  official  corruption  which  could 


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THE  STORY   OF   THE   DOMINION 


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never  be  proved  and  which  appear  to  have  been  simply  the 
product  of  a  feeling  that  these  men  were  the  principal  antag- 
onists to  the  claims  advanced  by  the  popular  body.  Jonathan 
Sewell  was  the  leader  of  the  English  element  in  Lower 
Canada  and  Chief  Justice  of  the  Province  from  1808  to 
1838.  His  probity  was  really  above  reproach,  his  character 
and  honor  of  the  highest,  his  culture  and  attainments  and  so- 
cial qualities  most  marked.  But  he  was  an  intense  believer 
in  the  necessity  of  English  supremacy  in  the  Government  of 
Lower  Canada,  a  vigorous  opponent  of  Roman  Catholicism, 
an  unfriendly  critic  of  the  French  character  and  pretensions. 
t  The  impeachment  was  not,  of  course,  agreed  to  by  the  Leg- 
islative Council,  and  the  Governor  very  properly  refused  to 
take  it  up.  The  Chief  Justice,  however,  went  to  England 
and  uefied  his  accusers  to  prove  their  allegations  at  the  Co- 
lonial Office.  They  did  not  attempt  to  do  so  in  any  other  court 
than  that  of  the  inflamed  public  opinion  of  the  Province,  and 
Sewell,  after  being  well  received  in  London,  returned  to  Que- 
bec in  natural  triumph.  He  had  made  hie  visit  memorable  in 
a  wider  public  sense  by  suggesting  and  pressing  a  scheme  for 
the  federation  of  British  North  America.  But  the  time  was, 
of  course,  premature.  The  trouble  over  the  finances  now  re- 
vived. In  1809  the  Assembly  had  offered  to  pay  the  ex- 
penses of  the  Civil  List  in  return  for  a  right  to  eliminate  any 
salaries  objected  to.  As  this  meant  control  of  the  officials  by 
a  partisan  Assembly  and  a  distinct  infraction  of  the  Gov- 
ernor's prerogative,  as  then  understood,  the  Council  had  re- 
jected the  proposal.  Now,  in  1816,  the  Imperial  Govern- 
ment suggested  a  compromise  by  which  the  grant  of  a  stated 
sum  was  to  be  made  each  year — as  is  now  the  custom — with- 
out changing  the  items  of  the  grant.  For  a  brief  period  this 
plan  worked  satisfactorily.  In  1819,  however,  an  increase 
was  asked  and  refused.  The  Appropriation  Bill,  less  the 
extra  amount,  was  rejected  by  the  Council  and  a  deadlock  oc- 
curred which  was  followed  by  the  new  election  consequent 
upon  the  death  of  King  George  III.  ^- 


AN   ERA    OF   AGITATION 


181 


-A- 


PAPINEAU    A    POPULAR    ORATOE    AND    AGITATOR 


The  popular  hero  of  the  moment  was  now  Louis  Joseph 
Papineau.  Brilliant  in  oratory  beyond  any  other  product  of 
French  Canada,  splendid  in  physique,  and  popular  in  man- 
ner, democratic  in  belief,  and  aristocratic  in  appearance  and 
birth,  rash  in  utterance  ai>d  policy,  he  was  eminent  /  ♦ -^^ 
man  to  stir  French  passions  and  prejudices  to  a  white  htau 
and  to  play  upon  the  ignorance  and  fancies  of  the  people  as 
a  great  musician  plays  upon  the  hearts  of  his  hearers.  He 
became,  in  1820,  Speaker  of  the  Assembly,  and  was  in  the 
fullest  possession  of  his  great  personal  powers.  At  the  same 
time  there  came  to  Quebec  the  Earl  of  Dalhousie  as  Gover- 
nor-General. He  was  a  man  of  boundless  hospitality  and 
kindliness,  the  most  popular,  perhaps,  of  Nova  Scotian  Gov- 
ernors of  this  period,  the  founder  of  Dalhousie  College  at 
Halifax,  a  well-known  patron  of  agriculture  and  the  arts. 
In  Lower  Canada  he  early  established  an  Agricultural  Asso- 
ciation and  the  Literary  and  Historical  Society  of  Quebec; 
did  everything  in  his  power  to  continuously  encourage  im- 
proved methods  of  farming  and  a  better  system  of  education, 
and  tried  to  get  the  support  of  the  Assembly  in  this  work ;  en- 
tertained the  French  and  the  English  and  endeavored  to  bring 
them  together  in  social  intercourse;  erected,  largely  at  his 
own  expense,  the  famous  monument  in  Quebec  to  the  joint 
honor  of  Wolfe  and  Montcalm.  Dalhousie  was,  in  short,  one 
of  the  best  Governors  the  Province  ever  had,  yet  he  was,  also, 
perhaps  the  best-hated. 

He  saw  that  until  a  permanent  Civil  List  was  voted  and  the 
permanent  officials  of  the  Crown  taken  out  of  the  political 
arena,  there  could  be  no  peace,  and  this  settlement  he  at  once 
demanded  from  the  Assembly  as  a  right — in  view  of  the  un- 
derstanding of  1809.  Details  of  the  dispute  in  all  its  varied 
phases  are  unnecessary  here.  Suffice  it  that  the  Assembly 
peremptorily  rejected  the  proposal  and  that  during  the  eight 
succeeding  years  of  Lord  Dalhousie's  Viceroyalty  bitterness 
and  increasing  hostility  filled  the  air  with  clamor  and  com- 


182 


THE   STORY   OF    THE   DOMINION 


plaint.  Papineau  led  the  agitation  against  the  Governor 
in  the  House  and  in  the  country  with  an  ever-increasing  vio- 
lence of  thought  and  language  until  the  Governor  (acting 
M-ithin  his  legal  prerogative  and  resenting  some  exceptional 
personalities  of  the  Speaker)  refused  to  accept  him  on  re- 
election to  that  position. 

Matters  then  came  to  a  head,  mass  meetings  were  held 
and  huge  petitions  pent  to  England.  The  Parliament  there 
appointed  a  Committee  to  investigate  the  general  Canadian 
situation,  and,  in  1828,  it  reported  that  the  wishes  of  the 
French  Assembly  regarding  control  of  the  Crown  duties, 
which  were  levied  under  the  Act  of  1774,  should  be  acceded 
to  in  return  for  a  permanent  Civil  List;  that  Judges  and 
Bishops  in  all  the  Provinces  should  give  up  their  places  in  the 
Legislative  Councils ;  that  the  two  Councils  in  each  Province 
should  be  enlarged  by  the  appointment  of  independent  mem- 
bers— especially  French  Canadians  in  Lower  Canada;  that 
Receivers-General  should  give  security  and  Government  ac- 
counts be  examined  by  the  Assembly's  Auditors. 

Dalhousie  at  once  resigned  and  was  succeeded  by  Sir  James 
Kempt,  with  a  special  mission  of  conciliation  in  Lower  Can- 
ada. Despite  legislation  along  the  line  of  the  Report,  he 
failed,  however,  to  conciliate  the  still  clamorous  majority ;  as 
did  his  successor.  Lord  Aylmer.  Rebellion  was  now  in  the 
air,  and  Papineau  was  dreaming  dreams  of  a  great  French- 
Canadian  Republic,  and  preaching  the  blessings  and  benefits 
of  the  American  system.  From  the  Speaker's  chair  he  thun- 
dered forth  denunciations  of  monarchy  and  British  rule. 
On  March  1,  1834,  the  Assembly  passed  the  famous  Ninety- 
two  Resolutions.  They  spoke,  of  course,  for  the  French- 
Canadian  party,  from  which  all  its  moderate  leaders  had  now 
withdrawn,  and  reiterated  every  kind  of  baseless  charge  of 
corruption,  fraud,  and  tyranny  against  the  British  Governors 
and  Councilors;  demanded  immediate  and  entire  control  of 
all  lands  and  revenues ;  and  asked,  practically,  that  the  Prov- 
ince, with  its  Government,  its  English  minority,  its  moneys 
and  its  commerce,  be  handed  over  to  them.     This  document, 


AN   ERA    OF   AGITATION 


183 


with  the  weighty  answer  of  tJie  Montreal  Constitutional  As- 
sociation and  other  English  bodies,  soon  reached  London. 
Lord  Gosford,  a  man  of  conciliatory  but  weak  disposition, 
was  sent  out  as  Governor-General  and  as  Chairman  of  a  Com- 
mission of  Inquiry.  The  Report  of  the  Commission  was 
duly  made  in  1837,  but,  meanwhile,  Papineau  had  effectually 
prevented  it  from  being  of  anj  value  and  had  impressed  him- 
self more  and  more  upon  the  minds  of  the  people.  RebeUion, 
in  fact,  had  become  inevitable. 

Meantime,  matters  had  also  developed  in  Upper  Canada 
through  a  long  process  of  conflict  in  politics  and  confusion  in 
ideas.  Men  were  fighting  for  equality  of  opportunities  whoro 
there  was  neither  equality  of  conditions,  of  service  to  the 
State,  nor  of  British  sentiment — in  days  when  the  latter  prin- 
ciple was  everything  to  the  original  settler.  They  were  striv- 
ing for  the  acceptance  of  principles  which  they  did  not  them- 
selves understand  the  application  of,  which  had  not  yet  been 
fully  accepted  in  England,  and  Which  were  entirely  unfitted 
at  the  time  for  the  crude  institutions  or  peculiar  conditions 
of  a  pioneer  community.  The  earliest  subject  of  controversy 
was  the  Clergy  Reserves.  In  Upper  Canada,  two  and  a  half 
million  acres  of  wild  land  had  been  set  aside  under  the  enact- 
ment of  1791  for  the  support  of  a  "Protestant  Clergy."  It  was 
a  large  body  of  land,  but  there  was  plenty  more,  and  up  till  the 
thirties  this  point  did  not  cause  much  discussion.  The  great 
question  was  the  unfairness  of  excluding  Methodists  and  Bap- 
tists and  Presbyterians  from  sharing  in  the  grant.  And  from 
the  standards  of  to-day  there  was  absolute  justice  in  this  com- 
plaint. Yet  at  that  time  the  Church  of  England  was,  beyond 
controversy,  the  State  Church  of  the  Province  and  the  cor- 
respondence of  Simcoe  and  Dorchester  and  the  Colonial  Sec- 
retaries, in  the  years  following  1791,  indicate  clearly  that  it 
was  the  intention  of  the  Imperial  Government  to  make  Upper 
Canada  a  mirror  of  the  British  constitution  and  in  doing  so 
to  give  it  an  Established  Church. 

There  was  also  much  in  the  contention  that  this  was  the 
Church  of  the  bulk  of  the  Loyalists,  that  it  wr.8  the  pioneer 


I 


' 


184 


THE   STORY    OF    THE   DOMINION 


of  missionary  work  in  the  English  Provinces,  that  the  grants 
by  Parliament  and  the  large  sums  given  by  the  London 
Church  Missionary  Societies  were  long  the  only  support  to 
religious  observance  and  worship  in  the  country.  And  the 
British  Government  honestly  and  naturally  believed  that  the 
best  way  to  encourage  Christianity  in  this  new  land  of  vast 
spaces  and  few  people  was  to  give  it  a  stable  constitutional 
basis  and  a  fixed  financial  support.  Hence  the  origin  of  the 
Clergy  Reserves,  the  consistent  support  given  them  by  the 
Tories,  and  the  encouragement  afforded  to  the  Church  by 
successive  Governors. 

Inevitably,  also,  other  denominations,  as  the  papulation  in- 
creased, did  not  like  this  establishment,  and  resented  the 
combination  of  State  and  Church  in  one  strong  social,  re- 
ligious, and  political  fabric.  After  a  time  it  was  tacitly  ad- 
mitted that  the  Church  of  Scotland  had  a  right,  as  an  estab- 
lished body  in  the  Old  Land,  to  share  in  the  proceeds  of  the 
Reserves — proceeds  which,  by  the  way,  were  never  large,  and 
in  the  first  years  of  the  dispute  almost  infinitesimal.  But 
the  discussion  dragged  its  way  through  the  political  field  for 
many  yeau  after  this  period  and  the  Rebellion  itself.  The 
material  point  was  that,  in  some  cases,  these  wild  lands,  which 
constituted  the  seventh  lot  in  every  surveyed  township,  lay 
unimproved  amid  surrounding  cultivation.  Toward  the  mid- 
dle of  the  century  this  was  an  important  fact  and  a  decided 
grievance ;  in  the  earlier  part  of  the  period  it  certainly  could 
not  have  been  either.  > 

Meanwhile,  in  181Y,  the  first  Upper  Canadian  agitator 
came  on  the  scene.  He  was  a  Scotchman  named  Robert  Gour- 
lay,  erratic,  headstrong,  violent,  and  ultimately  insane.  He 
came  to  the  new  country  as  a  failure  in  the  old  one,  found 
some  grievances  and  imagined  others,  stormed  the  ramparts 
of  the  Government  with  vigor  and  some  effect,  and  soon  had 
a  very  pretty  little  controversy  in  progress.  Of  course,  his 
conduct  was  deeply  resented  by  the  party  in  power.  He  was 
without  stake  in  the  community,  or  real  knowledge  of  its  con- 
ditions, and  they  looked  upon  him  as  an  impudent  interloper. 


AN  ERA    OF  AGITATION 


186 


He  was  arrested  twice  and  acquitted,  then  held  in  jail  for 
seven  months  on  a  charge  of  treason,  found  guilty  by  a  parti- 
san jury,  and  expelled  from  the  country.  The  whole  affair 
was  regrettable  and  nis  treatment  unwise  and  unjust,  but  it 
must  be  remembered  in  excuse  that  just  such  men  had  caused 
the  American  Revolution  and  that  failure  to  deal  summarily 
with  them  in  the  beginning  had  made  the  British  cause  thure 
a  lost  one.  The  Loyalists  did  not  want  a  repetition  of  this 
issue  in  Canada — and  they  were  living  in  the  beginning  of 
the  eighteenth  century,  not  the  end! 

CENTRAL  FIGURES  OF  A  TROUBLOUS  PERIOD 

The  three  central  figures  of  the  succeeding  period  were 
John  Beverley  Robinson,  Dr.  John  Strachan,  and  William 
Lyon  Mackenzie.  Robinson  was  a  typical  Loyalist  and  Tory, 
proud  of  his  family  and  his  descent,  cultured  in  attainment, 
manner,  and  appearance,  honorable  in  his  public  dealings, 
strict  in  his  political  code.  He  had  fought  in  1812,  he  had 
been  a  vigorous  politician  for  years,  and  was,  up  to  1829,  the 
practical  ruler  of  the  Provinoo.  From  that  date  until  1862. 
he  was  its  respected  Chief  Justice  and  died  a  baronet  of  the 
United  Kingdom.  Dr.  John  Strachan  was  a  militant  eccle- 
siastic of  an  old-time  type.  Strong  and  rugged  in  his  views, 
intensely  earnest  in  his  suppori,  of  the  Church  of  England  and 
the  Tory  party,  a  vigorous  and  continuous  fighter  in  every 
cause  which  he  took  up,  a  strenuous  publicist  in  voice  and  pen 
and  work,  he  was  a  great  Dower  in  the  land  from  the  begin- 
ning of  the  century  uniil  his  death  in  1867.  A  member  of 
the  Legislative  Council  ai^d  a  politician  of  pronounced  weight, 
Bishop  of  Toronto  for  twenty-eight  years,  founder  of  the 
University  of  Toronto — as  King's  College  and  with  Church 
associations — and  then  of  Trinity  University,  he  v/as,  in  brief, 
a  man  of  the  most  marvelous  energy  and  force  of  character. 

Mackenzie  was  of  a  very  different  type.  Enthusiastic  and 
rash  in  temperament,  fickle  in  his  friendship  and  fancies, 
without  defined  standards  of  right  and  wrong,  violent  in  his 
dislikes  and  prejudices,  stubborn  at  times  in  pursuit  of  a 


K" 


% 


186 


THE   STORY   OF   THE   DOMINION 


given  aim,  he  was  a  strange  jumble  of  good  and  bad — a  man 
as  far  from  being  the  hero  which  some  of  his  followers  and 
jourralistic  admirers  have  made  him  as  he  was  from  being 
the  villain  which  his  opponents  believed  him.  Poor  he  al- 
ways was;  honest  in  his  hatred  of  the  "Family  Compact," 
as  the  Tories  were  called  from  the  relationship  which  many 
of  their  leading  families  naturally  bore  to  each  other  in  a 
limited  community,  he  undoubtedly  was ;  sincere  in  his  vague 
aspiration  after  a  liberty  which  too  often  assumed  the  form 
of  license,  he  probably  was.  But  the  bitterness  and  abusive- 
ness  of  his  journalistic  style  have  perhaps  never  been  equaled, 
the  dishonesty  of  his  claim  to  loyalty  was  clearly  shown  in 
later  'lays,  the  nature  of  his  democracy  found  ultimate  ex- 
pression in  the  fiercest  of  annexationist  proclamations  and 
advocacy.  Such  were  the  leading  men  of  this  troublous 
period. 

After  the  disappearance  of  Gourlay  incidents  of  complaint 
and  friction  continued  to  recur.  A  British  half -pay  officer, 
named  Matthews,  lost  his  pension  upon  report  of  the  Lieu- 
tenant-Governor for  encouraging  some  strolling  musicians 
to  play  American  airs.  Judge  Willis,  an  English  appointee 
to  the  Bench,  plunged  into  politics  as  an  intense  Radi- 
cal and  with  bitter  invective  against  the  party  in  power, 
and  was  very  properly  removed.  An  innkeeper,  named 
Forsyth,  put  up  a  high  fence  at  Niagara,  in  order  to  obstruct 
the  view  of  the  Falls,  and  force  people  to  pay  for  passing 
through  his  grounds  to  see  them.  Sir  Peregrine  Maitland, 
the  Governor,  naturally  ordered  its  removal,  and  upon  refusal 
sent  soldiers,  who  not  only  tore  down  the  fence,  but  de- 
stroyed a  house  which  was  built  on  the  man's  private  property. 
Forsyth  became  a  popular  hero,  the  Assembly  denounced  the 
action  of  the  Governor,  the  latter  dissolved  the  House,  and 
was  ultimately  recalled.  His  successor,  in  1828,  was  Sir 
John  Colborne,  a  Peninsular  veteran  of  high  character,  great 
courage,  and  strong  convictions.  rt 

.  Gourlay  and  Matthews,  Willis  and  Forsyth  were  now  the 
heroes  of  the  Radical  party  which  had  for  some  time  past 


AN    ERA    OF   AGITATION 


187 


controlled  the  Assembly,  as  did  the  French  in  Lower  Canada. 
Mackenzie  was  the  leader  of  the  violenc  wing,  and  the  invec- 
tives and  charges  of  the  press  under  his  control  grew  so  vio- 
lent as  to  almost  justify  the  arrest  and  imprisonment  of 
Editors  which  followed.  The  fact  is  that  abuse  largely  took 
the  place  of  argument,  and  the  attainment  of  office,  or  the 
holding  of  it,  became  more  an  object  than  the  development  of 
a  new  and  workable  system  of  administration.  All  was  con- 
fusion of  thought  and  policy  among  the  Oppositionists,  while 
the  Government  party  were  at  least  consistent  and  united  in 
their  antagonism  to  all  change  and  reform.  They  were  strong 
because  of  defined  principles  and  objects ;  the  Reformers — as 
Radicals  and  Liberals  and  Republicans  had  now  come  to  be 
called — were  weak  through  the  absence  of  constructive  ideas 
or  plans. 

In  1830,  the  moderate  Reformers,  such  as  Marshal  Spring 
Bidwell,  Robert  Baldwin,  and  the  eminent  Methodist  preach- 
er, writer,  educationalist,  controversialist,  and  politician — 
Dr.  Egerton  Ryerson — began  to  repudiate  the  leadership  of 
Mackenzie.  The  new  Assembly  was,  therefore,  largely  Tory 
in  complexion.  Absence  of  tact  and  the  influence  of  failure 
now  made  Mackenzie  not  only  aggressive  but  insulting,  and 
the  much-abused  officials  took  advantage  of  their  majority, 
and  of  a  technicality,  to  expel  the  Radical  leader.  Four 
times  he  was  re-elected  by  his  constituents  of  York  and  four 
times  expelled.  He  finally  appealed  to  England,  and  the 
Colonial  Secretary  declared  his  expulsion  illegal.  Still,  the 
obstinate  and  angry  majority  would  not  move  from  its  posi- 
tion. 

Mackenzie  was  now  the  idol  of  a  large  part  of  the  people, 
the  Papineau  of  the  Upper  Province,  though  without  the  elo- 
quence of  his  prototype.  He  was  elected  the  first  Mayor  of 
York  (Toronto)  in  1834,  and  in  the  same  year  received  a 
letter  from  his  friend  and  ally  in  England,  the  well-known 
Joseph  Hume,  in  (vhich  the  latter  declared  that  the  troubles 
in  Canada  could  only  terminate  in  independence  and  "free- 
dom from  the  baleful  domination  of  the  Mother-country." 


188 


THE  STOBY   OF   THE   DOMINION 


The  sentiment  was  not  publicly  disapproved  by  Mackenzie, 
and  from  this  time  onward  he  entered  distinctly  upon  the 
down-grade  toward  rebellion.  The  new  House,  however,  had 
a  Reform  majority,  Mackenzie  was  made  Chairman  of  a 
"Special  Committee  of  Grievances,"  and  its  Report,  presented 
in  1835,  was  approved  by  the  Assembly  and  forwarded  to 
England  as  a  strong  presentation  of  the  situation  from  the 
stand j)oint  Df  the  Reformer.  Anxious,  as  usual,  to  concili- 
ate, the  Imperial  Government  recalled  Colbome  as  they  had 
done  Maitland  and  Dalhousie.  It  was  a  repetition  of  the  not 
infrequent  folly  of  removing  the  instrument  without  changing 
the  policy. 

Only  drastic  measures  of  change  could  now  have  done  any 
good,  and  conditions  in  Lower  Canada  made  a  responsible 
Ministry  out  of  the  question — even  if  matters  had  been  suffi- 
ciently advanced  to  warrant  its  establishment  in  Upper  Can- 
ada, The  new  Lieutenant-Governor  was  Sir  Francis  Bond 
Head,  a  Liberal  in  Home  politics,  an  excitable  and  honest 
man,  an  administrator  with  fervent  views  upon  the  value  of 
British  connection,  a  natural  ally  of  the  Loyalist  party  in 
the  Colony.  There  followed  an  immediate  conflict.  The 
Assembly  was  dissolved,  Papineau  wrote  to  Mackenzie  a  let- 
ter which  was  distinctly  republican  in  tone,  the  Governor  ap- 
pealed to  the  people  to  support  the  throne,  the  connection  with 
England  and  the  institutions  of  their  fathers,  and  the  hot- 
test fight  in  the  early  history  of  the  Province  resulted  in  a 
Tory  victory  and  in  the  personal  defeat  of  Mackenzie,  Bid- 
well,  Rolph,  and  other  leading  Reformers.  The  issue  was 
now  clear,  and  Mackenzie  deliberately  prepared  for  what  he 
fantastically  hoped  would  be  another  Revolution — the  birth 
of  another  American  Republic. 


K\ 


CONTKOVERSIES    IN    OTHER   PLACES 


Meanwhile,  in  Nova  Scotia  and  New  Brunswick,  consti- 
tutional controversies  had  arisen,  but  they  were  milder  in 
character  than  those  of  Upper  Canada,  though  not  dissimilar 
in  origin.     The  division  between  classes  was  not  drawn  so 


■ 


AN   ERA    OF   AGITATION 


189 


sharply,  the  immigration  of  Americans  was  not  so  consider- 
able as  in  the  Upper  Province,  and  there  was  no  racial  con- 
troversy as  in  Lower  Canada.  Between  1816  and  1828, 
Lord  Dalhousie  and  Sir  James  Kempt  governed  in  Nova 
Scotia  with  reasonable  moderation  and  success.  They  de- 
voted themselves  to  questions  of  material  and  educational 
development  and  the  promotion  of  Church  of  England  inter- 
ests and  influence.  This  latter  point  was,  indeed,  a  cardinal 
principle  of  all  the  Governors  of  this  period  and  in  the  ad- 
ministration of  nearly  all  British  Colonies.  Their  advisers 
constituted  an  oligarchy,  but  not  an  offensive  one,  and  it  was 
only  in  1830  that  a  really  severe  controversy  began  between 
the  Assembly  and  the  Council  upon  a  question  of  taxation. 
In  the  end,  and  after  a  general  election,  the  latter  body 
yielded. 

Then  came  trouble  over  the  management  of  local  affairs 
in  Halifax,  a  dispute  with  the  Council  which  involved  the 
freedom  of  the  press,  and  the  rise,  in  1835,  from  obscurity 
into  sudden  fame  of  the  greatest  Nova  Scotian  of  early  his- 
tory— Joseph  Howe.  A  journalist  by  profession,  he  de- 
fended himself  against  the  charge  of  criminal  libel  with  an 
eloquence  and  force  which  submerged  his  opponents,  carried 
the  jury,  won  the  masses  of  the  people  to  his  side,  and  made 
him  a  popular  idol.  Howe  at  once  entered  the  Assembly, 
together  with  Reformers  such  as  William  Yor.ig,  Hunting- 
ton, and  O'Connor  Doyle,  and  introduced  his  famous  "Twelve 
Resolutions"  condemning  the  constitution  and  procedure  of 
the  Legislative  Council  and  inaugurating  an  active  campaign 
against  the  existing  system  of  administration.  They  were 
carried,  but  subsequently  withdrawn.  Then  came  the  acces- 
sion of  Queen  Victoria  and  the  Rebellion  elsewhere — the  lat- 
ter being  as  strongly  denounced  by  Howe  as  it  could  have 
been  by  a  Beverley  Robinson  or  a  Jonathan  Sewell. 

In  'New  Brunswick  the  struggle  between  the  two  Houses 
began  with  the  century,  and  the  details  are  too  trivial  and 
wearisome  to  record  in  any  general  review  of  a  situation 
which  was  very  similar  to  that  already  described.     Sir  How- 


i    \ 


|i 


190 


THE   STORY   OF   THE   DOMINION 


arc!  Douglas  camo  out  as  Lieutenant-Governor  in  1824,  and, 
during  the  seven  years  of  his  administration,  tliere  v^^as  a 
comparative  calm.  The  lumber  interest  and  shipbuilding 
industry  had  overshadowed  agriculture,  and  the  new  Gov- 
ernor devoted  himself  to  promoting  the  latter  and  improving 
the  very  backward  condition  of  education.  To  this  latter 
end  he  founded  the  present  University  of  New  Brunswick. 
He  also  had  to  face  the  drought  of  1825  and  the  terrible  for- 
est fires  which  terminated  in  the  destruction  of  the  town  of 
Miramichi  and  a  loss  of  four  millions  of  dollars  in  goods  and 
property  and  timber.  Then  came  the  boundary  quarrel  with 
Maine.  Meantime,  Lemuel  Allen  Wilmot  had  attained  dis- 
tinction as  a  Keformer,  and  become  as  conspicuous  in  hia 
own  Province  as  Howe  and  Mackenzie  and  Papitieau  were 
in  theirs.  Sir  Archibald  Campbell,  the  next  Governor,  found 
himself  face  to  face  with  the  old  and  familiar  troubles  of 
revenue  control  and  Council  combination. 

Sundry  reforms  were  inaugurated,  the  Executive  and  Leg- 
islative Councils  were  separated,  and,  after  vigorous  opposi- 
tion from  the  Governor,  the  Colonial  Office,  in  1836,  ordered 
the  transfer  of  control  over  all  revenues  to  the  Assembly,  and 
advised  that  members  of  the  latter  body  be  called  to  the  Ex- 
ecutive. Sir  Archibald  resigned  rather  than  accede  to  this 
mandate,  but  his  successor — the  judicious,  wise,  and  liberal 
Sir  John  Harvey — was  only  too  glad  to  support  the  change. 
Thus,  New  Brunswick  became  the  first  Province  to  establish 
the  principle  of  popular  control  over  public  moneys,  although 
the  responsible  Executive  was  again  postponed  by  tlie  Rebel- 
lion in  the  Canadas.  Cape  Breton,  in  1820,  had  become 
finally  a  part  of  Nova  Scotia,  and  contributed  to  its  public 
life  an  active  and  capable  representative  in  the  person  of 
Richard  J.  Uniacke.  In  little  Prince  Edward  Island  there 
was  no  popular  government  at  this  time,  and  not  very  much 
of  an  attempt  at  it.  The  estates  of  the  Island  were  in  the 
hands  of  English  owners,  and  its  affairs  were  largely  con- 
trolled by  them  through  the  Governors,  while  the  bulk  of  the 
population  were  tenants  of  the  distant  landholders. 


THE    TROUBLES    OF   18S7-S8 


191 


CHAPTER  XI 


1! 


THE  TROUBLES   OF  1837-38 


10 

m- 


THE  year  which  commenced  the  remarkable  reign  of 
Queen  Victoria  saw  enacted  in  the  Canadaa  a  drama 
which  had  much  influence  upon  tho  destinies  of  the 
future  Dominion.  The  Rebellion  which  takes  up  so  much 
space  in  Canadian  history  was  not  in  itself  a  great  event. 
Its  two  chief  leaders  were  men  of  the  brilliant  irresponsi- 
bility of  ctiaract'"!r  so  typical  of  similar  spirits  everywhere, 
and  the  majority  of  its  adherents  were  sincere  and  honest  in 
their  opinions.  Its  battles,  however,  were  insignificant,  its 
following,  in  a  military  sense,  trivial,  and  its  immediate  re- 
sults unimportant.  Yet  the  event  stands  out  in  the  mind  of 
the  Canadian  public  as  the  cause  and  origin  of  free  govern- 
ment in  this  country.  How  far  that  impression  is  correct  the 
facts  alone  vnll  indicate  and  the  story  is  certainly  one  of 
interest. 

HOW    THE    TROUBLE    BEGAN  '  ^'  '  '  ' 


f ,  t 


By  the  early  part  of  183Y  the  events  already  described 
had  reached  a  climax  in  both  the  Canadas,  while  the  issue  in 
the  Maritime  Provinces  had  been  greatly  simplified  by  the  ab- 
sence of  any  actual  sedition  and  by  the  strength  of  char- 
acter and  loyalty  of  sentiment  of  the  great  Nova  Scotian  orator 
and  leader,  Joseph  Howe.  In  Lower  Canada  the  Report  of 
the  Royal  Commission  of  Inquiry  had  bien  made  public  after 
^presentation  to  the  British  Parliament  and  was  found  to  be 
largely  academic  in  its  nature.  Lord  John  Russell,  as  Co- 
lonial Secretary,  promptly  followed  it  up  with  a  measure 
autb'  'zing  the  Governor-General  to  take  £142,000  from  the 
Provincial  Treasury  and  thus  pay  the  arrears  of  salary  and 
other  indebtedness  which  had  accumulated  during  the  five 
years  in  which  the  Assembly  had  refused  to  vote  supplies. 


i! 


I 


192 


THE   STORY    OF   THE   DOMINION 


At  the  same  time  it  was  intimated  by  the  British  Government 
that  tb^  proposal  of  the  French  for  nn  elective  Council  was 
inadmissible  as  it  would  give  the  absolute  control  of  the 
popular  side  of  the  Government  into  the  hands  of  one  race; 
and  for  practically  the  same  reason  the  establishment  of  a 
responsible  Executive  Council  was  declared  to  be  undesir- 
able. Not  even  the  Liberals  of  England  were  prepared  to 
place  the  full  power  of  rule  in  the  hands  of  a  racial  majority 
which  talked  and  legislated  as  did  the  followers  of  Papineau. 

THE   EXCITEMENT   INCREASES  .?u 

•  The  result,  however,  was  deplorable.  The  Montreal  organ 
of  the  rising  tide  of  rebellion — "The  Vindicator" — declared 
that:  "Henceforth  there  must  be  no  peace  in  the  Province 
— no  quarter  for  the  plunderers.  Agitate !  Agitate !  Agi- 
tate! Destroy  the  revenue!  Denounce  the  oppressors  I 
Everything  is  lawful  when  the  fundamental  liberties  are  in 
danger."  Meetings  of  the  wildest  character  were  held  on 
the  banks  of  the  St.  Lav.rence  and  the  Richelieu.  Papineau 
paraded  among  the  people  whom  his  oratory  stirred  into 
a  white  heat  of  patriotism  and  racial  pride,  and  seemed  for 
a  time  to  really  hold  the  Province  in  the  hollow  of  his  hand. 
Lord  Gosford  finally  awoke  to  the  apparent  seriousness  of 
♦he  issue,  and  in  the  late  spring  issued  a  proclamation  of 
warning  against  the  dangers  of  sedition  and  the  folly  of  the 
course  which  was  being  pursued.  Derision  and  shouts  of 
"Long  live  Papineau,  Our  Deliverer,"  was  the  popular  rer 
sponse ;  the  organization  of  societies  called  "Sons  of  Liberty" 
was  the  reply  of  the  young  Frenchmen  in  Montreal  and  else- 
where ;  demands  involving  the  practical  withdrawal  of  Brit- 
ish authority  from  Lower  Canada  was  the  answer  of  the 
Assembly.  The  House  was  at  once  dissolved,  and  amid  strong 
appeals  from  the  Church  and  the  hasty  organization  of  the 
British  minority,  the  Rebellion  commenced. 

Owing  very  largely  to  the  influence  of  the  Roman  Catholic 
Bishops  and  clergy  the  ensuing  insurrection  was  not  a  gen- 
eral one.     Bishop  Lartigue,  of  Montreal,  issued  a  memorable 


THE    TROUBLES    OF   1887-88 


193 


IC 

m- 
)le 


"Mandement"  on  October  24th  to  the  people  of  his  Diocese 
and  was  supported  strongly  in  its  presentation  of  views  by 
Bishop  Signay  of  Quebec.  This  document  denounced  the 
rebel  leaders  as  "evil-minded  men" ;  declared  that  "both  hu- 
man and  divine  laws  rise  up  in  condemnation  of  those  who 
by  schemes  of  sedition  and  revolt  endeavor  to  shake  allegiance 
to  Princes"  ;  pointed  out  the  horrors  of  civil  war  and  the  dan- 
gers of  seed  sown  in  the  days  of  the  French  Revolution ;  con- 
demned unbridled  liberty  and  eulogized  the  rights  of  au- 
thority. There  is  no  doubt  of  the  wide  influence  exerted  by 
these  opinions  and  by  the  command  to  avoid  open  participa- 
tion in  the  rising.  Though  the  clergy  had  taken  no  pro- 
nounced part  in  keeping  the  people  away  from  the  sound 
of  Papineau's  burning  eloquence  and  the  temptations  of  his 
policy — perhaps  it  would  have  been  impossible  to  do  so — they 
now  did  everything  in  their  power  to  hold  them  back  from  the 
extremity  of  insurrection  and  even  suggested  to  the  Execu- 
tive Council  the  discussion  of  a  compromise.  But  it  was  now 
too  late  to  avert  bloodshed  and  a  year  or  more  of  factious 
disorder. 

Meanwhile,  in  Upper  Canada,  events  had  been  proceeding 
with  similar  rapidity,  though  not  with  the  same  degree  of 
seriousness.  There,  the  minority  in  favor  of  actual  violence 
was  very  small,  though  very  noisy.  Mackenzie  was  not  as 
big  a  man  in  either  brains  or  body  as  was  Papineau,  and  the 
class  he  had  to  draw  upon  for  sedition  was  infinitely  smaller 
than  in  Lower  Canada.  His  newspaper,  however,  was  clever 
in  its  insistent  bitterness  and  continuous  denunciation ;  while 
the  real  abuses  which  existed  gave  excuse  for  strong  opposi- 
tion to  the  powers  of  the  day,  though  in  Upper,  as  in  Lower, 
Canada  they  did  not  give  sufficient  ground  for  rebellion. 

On  July  31,  1837,  Mackenzie  published  in  his  paper,  "The 
Constitution,"  a  document  which  he  called  the  Reformer's 
Declaration  of  Rights  and  it  affords  a  pretty  clear  statement 
of  his  position.  It  was,  in  the  first  place,  based  upon  the 
style  of  the  American  Declaration  of  Independence  and  had 
much  the  same  end  in  view,  although  it  was  much  more  vio- 

DOMINION— 9 


I 


194 


THE   STORY   OF   THE   DOMINION 


lent  and  infinitely  less  dignified  than  the  apparent  source 
of  its  inspiration.  It  teemed  with  references  such  as  that  to 
the  "baneful  domination"  of  Great  Britain  and  the  "mockery 
of  human  government"  under  which  "we  have  been  insulted, 
injured,  and  brought  to  the  brink  of  ruin."  Many  moderate 
Liberals  laughed  at  it.  Ryerson,  Baldwin,  Bidwell,  and  other 
Liberal  leaders  sharply  denounced  it.  Sir  Francis  Bond 
Head  looked  upon  it  as  the  mere  froth  and  foam  of  an  agi- 
tation which  must  come  to  a  head — and  the  sooner  the  better. 
Mackenzie  went  on  with  his  wild  work  of  drilling  small 
bodies  of  men  and  organizing  "vigilance  committees"  to  carry 
afar  the  doctrines  of  his  "Declaration"  with  its  list  of  griev- 
ances, its  repudiation  of  British  allegiance,  its  pronounce- 
ment in  favor  of  the  rebels  of  Lower  Canada  and  its  fervent 
sympathy  with  American  institutions. 

The  Lieutenant-Governor  responded  to  these  menaces  with 
a  quiet  contempt  and  a  perfect  assurance  in  the  loyalty  of  the 
masses  of  the  people  for  which  he  has  been  frequently  con- 
demned. So  strongly  did  he  feel  the  futility  and  farcical 
nature  of  the  whole  movement  that  he  sent  all  the  regular 
troops  in  the  Province  down  to  Lower  Canada,  where  they 
appeared  to  be  greatly  needed,  and  expressed  his  intention  to 
depend  upon  the  loyal  volunteers  and  militia  of  the  Province 
— a  dependence  which  was  certainly  not  misplaced  and  a 
policy  which  seems  to  have  been  justified  by  the  result.  He 
believed  that  some  sort  of  a  rising  was  inevitable  and  that 
until  it  took  place,  and  the  steam  of  existing  discontent  was 
blown  off  in  the  fiasco  which  must  follow,  theie  would  be 
neither  peace  nor  order  in  the  land.  The  sooner  it  took  place 
the  better,  therefore,  and  the  less  British  troops  had  to  do 
with  its  suppression  the  better  also  for  future  loyalty  among 
the  people  as  a  whole.  In  this  he  was  right,  and  in  the  belief 
that  the  Province  would  never  prosper  until  certain  agitators 
were  removed  from  the  sphere  of  popular  influence,  he  was 
also  right.  Such  was  the  situation  in  the  two  Canadas  when 
the  flash  of  folly,  which  has  been  termed  the  Rebellion  of 
1837,  took  place. 


..•'-I 


THE  TROUBLES   OF  18S7S8 


195 


BEGINNING  OF  THE  REBELLION 

The  Kebellion  began  in  Lower  Canada  in  October,  18  37, 
and  the  centre  of  disaffection  was  the  country  along  the  banks 
of  the  Kichelieu.  At  St.  Charles,  the  half-armed,  partially 
drilled,  and  utterly  deceived  habitants  gathered  in  force.  At 
St.  Denis,  nearby,  was  a  similar  body  under  Dr.  Wolfred 
Nelson,  a  Montreal  physician  who  had  early  enrolled  him- 
self under  the  inflammatory  banner  of  Papineau.  Sir  John 
Colborne,  who  had  come  back  to  Canada  as  Commander  in- 
Chief,  sent  expeditions  to  scatter  the  rebels  at  these  points. 
St.  Denis  was  attacked  by  a  force  under  Colonel  Gore,  which, 
amid  circumstances  of  considerable  diflBculty,  was  tempo- 
rarily repulsed.  St.  Charles  was  easily  occupied  by  Colonel 
Weatherell,  and  the  rebels  scattered  like  chaff.  Meanwhile, 
a  small  body  of  loyal  cavalry  had  been  attacked  between  these 
places  and  Lieutenant  Weir  captured  by  a  Prench  contingent. 
In  trying  to  escape  he  was  shot  and  then  hacked  to  pieces 
under  conditions  of  extreme  brutality.  His  murderers  were 
afterward  tried  but  acquitted  by  a  French  jury.  News  of  the 
success  at  St.  Charles  soon  reached  St.  Denis,  and  the  French 
there  melted  away  without  giving  fresh  trouble  to  the  British 
troops.      M  .^■-.,-:-::;-Vv-,    •-^  ■:.  .^,':.   r:-r    -    ''.;>■•—,'  ;  ■■■.  : 

At  St.  Eustache,  north  of  Montreal,  a  few  rebels  made  a 
brave  and  determined  stand  under  Dr.  Chenier;  and  not 
until  the  church  in  which  they  were  fighting  had  fallen  in 
blazing  ruins  about  their  heads  did  the  deluded  peasants  try 
to  escape.  It  was  then  too  late,  however,  and  nearly  all  died 
— including  their  leader,  to  whom,  many  years  afterward,  the 
French  people  of  Montreal  raised  a  statue.  This  was  the  end 
of  the  actual  insurrection,  although  Nelson  and  Cote  and  a 
few  other  leaders  crossed  the  American  frontier,  issued  proc- 
lamations announcing  a  new  republic,  and,  in  1838,  gathered 
together  large  bands  of  raiders  for  the  purpose  of  invasion. 
On  the  Bepuharnois  Canal  they  destroyed  a  steamer  and,  tak- 
ing advantage  of  Lord  Durham's  leniency  during  his  few 
months'    administration,  nearly  provoked  another  rebellion. 


I 


«» 


196 


THE  STORY  OF   THE   DOMINION 


At  Laprairie,  Nelson  succeeded  in  getting  2,000  men  to- 
gether, but  Colborne  at  once  sent  a  large  force  against  him, 
and,  after  an  encounter  at  Odelltown,  he  fled  back  to  the 
States.  Colborne  was  now  Governor-General,  and  was  deter- 
mined that  there  should  be  no  more  doubt  as  to  the  substan- 
tial difference  between  loyalty  and  treason. 

Courts-Martial  were  established — the  Habeas  Corpus  Act 
being  meantime  suspended — the  principal  rebels  were  tried, 
forty-nine  of  them  condemned  to  transportation  and  eighty 
to  death.  Only  eleven  actually  suffered  the  extreme  penalty, 
and  they  were  selected  from  men  who  had  deliberately  at- 
tempted to  raise  rebellion  a  second  time  after  having  K  en 
once  pardoned,  or  who  had  committed  personal  crimes  in  ad- 
dition to  acts  of  treason.  Papineau,  Nelson,  O'Callaghan, 
and  Brown,  who  had  fled  to  the  States  at  an  early  stage  of  the 
rising,  were  convicted  of  high  treason.  Papineau  went  to  live 
in  France  and  in  1844  was  allowed  to  return  to  Canada  with- 
out attracting  attention — only  to  find  his  influence  gone  and 
his  reputation  a  mere  shadow  of  the  greatness  which  had  fled 
forever  in  the  flame  of  his  own  folly. 

The  object  of  the  whole  agitation  and  action  in  Lower 
Canada  had  become  clear  as  the  Rebellion  approached,  and 
Lord  Gosford,  writing  to  the  Colonial  Secretary  on  Septem- 
ber 2,  1837,  had  declared  that:  "It  is  evident  the  Papineau 
faction  will  not  be  satisfied  until  the  English  Government 
have  put  it  in  a  position  to  carry  its  projects  into  execution ; 
viz.,  the  separation  of  this  country  from  England  and  the 
proclamation  of  a  republic."  The  farce  of  constitution- 
mongering  and  claims  for  a  system  which  the  leaders  did  not 
understand  and  only  wanted  for  employment  against  British 
influence  and  authority  was  now  over ;  and  the  bubble  created 
by  brilliant  rhetoric  playing  upon  French  passions  and  preju- 
dices was  pricked  by  the  stand  of  the  Church  and  the  sound 
of  British  cannon.  The  hierarchy,  indeed,  took  strong  ground 
in  their  condemnation.  "What  misery,  what  desolation," 
exclaimed  the  Bishop  of  Montreal,  "is  spread  broadcast 
through  many  of  our  fields  and  homes  since  the  scourge  of 


THE    TROOBLES   OF  1837-38 


197 


civil  war  has  ravaged  a  happy  country  where  abundance  and 
joy  reigned,  with  order  and  safety,  before  brigands  and  rebels 
by  force  of  sophistries  and  lies  had  led  astray  a  part  of  the 
population." 

The  responsibility  for  what  occurred  rests  with  the  men 
thus  characterized  by  their  own  Church;  with  men  such  as 
Papineau,  Cote,  Nelson,  O'Callaghan,  and  Chenier.  As  Dr. 
N.  E.  Dionne,  the  cultured  Provincial  Librarian  at  Quebec, 
has  well  said:  "All  these  are  the  true  culprits,  and,  I  dare 
say,  the  only  culprits."*  But  the  ignorant  suffered  for  the 
machinations  and  the  crazy  ambitions  of  the  cultured.  Blame 
must  also  be  laid  upon  men  who  afterward  became  prominent 
and  loyal  citizens,  but  who  in  their  youthful  days  succumbed 
to  the  brilliancy  and  fascination  of  Papineau  and  fell  victims 
to  his  folly — men  such  as  Sir  George  Etienne  Cartier,  the 
Hon.  A.  N.  Morin,  the  Hon.  D.  B.  Viger,  Sir  L.  H.  Lafon- 
taine,  and  others  who  followed  their  leader  to  the  verge  of 
rebellion  and  then  shrank  back  from  the  full  fruition  of  his 
policy. 

In  Upper  Canada,  during  this  period,  the  insurrection 
had  been  equally  futile  and  still  more  feeble.  When  the  ris- 
ing commenced  in  Lower  Canada  matters  were  in  readiness, 
as  far  as  they  could  ever  be  under  the  hopeless  circumstances 
of  the  case,  in  the  U  pper  Province.  A  series  of  two  hundred 
meetings  had  been  addressed  by  Mackenzie  in  fiery  and  un- 
controllable bnguage;  drilling  and  rifle  shooting  had  been 
freely  practiced;  and,  in  November,  1,500  persons  had  volun- 
teered for  active  service  who  were  stated  to  be  efficiently 
trained.  Arrangements  were  then  made  to  march  a  force 
upon  Toronto,  to  seize  the  Lieutenant-Governor  and  4,000 
muskets  which  were  kept  in  the  City  Hall  under  the  protec- 
tion of  a  small  guard  of  volunteers,  and  to  proclaim  a  re- 
public with  Dr.  John  Rolph — a  clever,  adroit  politician,  who 
had  80  far  kept  upon  both  sides  of  the  fence — as  Provisional 
President. 


*  Article  in  "Canada:  An  Encyclopadia  ot  the  Country,"  vol.  3. 


198 


THE   STORY    OF   THE   DOMINION 


THE  RISING  IN  UPPER  CANADA 

It  was  thought  that  after  this  had  been  consummated  the 
rest  of  the  Province  would  accept  the  new  constitution  with- 
out further  trouble.  A  more  vain  and  silly  project,  upon 
the  surface,  was  never  hatched  in  a  treasonable  brain.  The 
excuse  for  it,  however,  is  that  help  was  expected  and  prom- 
ised, and  afterward  given  when  too  late,  from  the  States. 
Meanwhile,  on  December  4th,  after  gathering  at  a  place  called 
Montgomery's  Tavern  in  such  force  as  they  could  muster, 
the  rebels  marched  upon  the  city  only  lo  take  alarm  at  the 
appearance  of  a  picket  of  volunteer  troops  and  to  hastily  re- 
treat. During  the  next  few  days,  however,  their  numbers 
increased  to  some  1,000  men,  armed  with  guns,  scythes,  pitch- 
forks, axes,  and  anything  they  could  lay  their  hands  upox». 
Colonel  Moodie,  a  Peninsular  veteran,  and  a  much  respected 
citizen,  attempted  to  ride  through  their  lines  with  the  sol- 
dier's characteristic  contempt  for  a  mob  in  arms,  and  was 
shot  dead.  But  Toronto  was  now  ready  for  them ;  every  man 
of  influence  and  nearly  every  citizen  was  shouldering  his 
musket,  from  the  Chief  Justice  down ;  and  loyal  militia,  in- 
cluding the  gallant  "Men  of  Gore,"  as  the  Hamilton  volun- 
teers were  called,  were  pouring  in  from  all  directions.  On 
December  Yth,  Colonel  (afterward  Sir  A.  N.)  McNab 
marched  out  to  attack  the  rebel  force.  It  was  under  the 
command  of  Samuel  Lount,  a  blacksmith  by  occupation,  and 
had  been  drilled  for  some  time  by  Colonel  Van  Egmond,  an 
old-time  officer  in  the  French  army  under  Napoleon.  The 
Lieutenant-Governor  offered  the  insurgents  a  last  chance  to 
surrender  and  to  give  up  the  mad  attempt  at  rebellion.  It 
was  refused  by  Mackenzie,  and  the  500  militia  under  McNab, 
dressed  in  homespun,  but  none  the  less  inspired  with  tradi- 
tions of  Britain's  thin  red  line,  advanced  to  the  attack.  After 
a  single  hot  exchange  of  fire  and  a  slight  skirmish  the  fight 
was  over  and  the  rebels  scattered. 

Like  Papineau,  Mackenzie  fled  at  the  first  shot,  and,  after 
various   adventures,   reached   the   American   frontier.      At 


THE    TROUBLES    OF   18S7-S8 


190 


Navy  Island,  above  Niagara  Falls,  he  established  his  mock- 
ery of  a  government,  and  soon  sympathizers  from  both  sides 
of  the  line  were  flocking  to  join  him.  At  Toronto,  militia 
and  volunteers  continued  to  arrive  in  such  numbers  as  to 
actually  embarrass  the  Governor,  and  to  most  fully  prove  the 
wisdom  of  his  belief  that  the  Province  wo  aid  stand  by  him 
when  the  inevitable  rising  took  place.  Some  of  them  were 
sent  under  McNab  to  watch  the  rebels  at  Navy  Island,  and, 
incidentally,  seized  a  steamer  called  the  Caroline,  which  was 
supplying  Mackenzie  with  munitions  of  war,  from  under  the 
guns  of  an  American  fort,  and  sent  her  blazing  over  the  Falls 
of  Niagara.  Many  months  later,  after  the  sympathies  of 
the  border  cities  of  the  United  States  had  exhausted  the  sup- 
ply of  men  and  arms  and  material  available  for  the  insur- 
rection, the  President  issued  a  proclamation  warning  the 
people  against  attacking  a  friendly  State.  Mackenzie,  mean- 
time, had  left  Navy  Island,  and  was  arrested  and  sentenced 
to  eighteen  months'  imprisonment  by  an  Albany  (N.  Y.) 
jury. 

But  conspiracies  in  American  cities  went  on,  so-called 
Hunter's  Lodges  were  organized  and  drilled  in  large  bodies 
of  men,  and  invaded  the  Canadian  Provinces  at  different 
times  and  places  during  the  ensuing  two  years.  It  was  a 
desultory  and  guerilla  warfare  which  lacked  organization  and 
a  leader  with  brains,  but  none  the  less  did  it  cause  the  Gov- 
ernments of  Upper  and  Lower  Canada  much  worry  and  ex- 
pense, and  the  border  settlements  much  of  suffering  and  natu- 
ral fear.  From  Ogdensburg,  Buffalo,  and  Detroit  expeditions 
were  sent,  one  numbering  1,500  filibusters  and  rebels,  but  all 
were  routed  or  driven  back  by  the  mere  report  of  advancing 
militia.  At  Prescott,  across  the  St.  Lawrence  and  near 
Kingston,  a  band  of  raiders  under  the  Polish  refugee.  Von 
Schultz,  were  attacked  in  one  of  the  stone  mills  of  the  neigh- 
borhood, in  which  they  had  taken  refuge,  and,  after  a  vigor- 
ous resistance,  were  captured  by  a  British  and  Canadian 
force.  The  occasion  of  the  succeeding  trial  was  notable  for 
the  defence  of  Von  Schultz  by  a  young  lawyer  named  John 


» 


200 


THE  STORY   OF  THE  DOMINION 


A.  Macdonald  and  for  its  being  his  first  case.  The  leader, 
however,  and  eleven  of  his  followers  were  convicted  and 
hanged. 

Tlie  most  notable  of  these  incidents  was  the  last.  In  De- 
cember, 1839,  there  marched  through  the  crowded  and  cheer- 
ing streets  of  Detroit  a  band  of  450  raiders  on  their  way  to 
capture  the  Canadian  town  of  Windsor,  on  the  opposite  side 
of  the  river.  They  did  so,  burning  a  vessel  and  some  houses, 
capturing  a  small  guard  of  militia  and  murdering  a  peaceful 
citizen  who  refused  to  join  their  ranks.  Then  they  marched 
to  Sandwich,  and  met  their  fate  in  the  person  of  Colonel  John 
Prince — a  Loyalist  of  the  Loyalists,  a  stern  soldier  of  the 
old  school,  a  man  with  an  utter  contempt  for  rebels,  and  one 
who  cared  nothing  for  the  fickle  fancies  of  public  opinion 
when  a  matter  of  duty  appeared  before  him  With  200  men 
he  met  and  routed  the  invaders,  and,  in  consequence  of  find- 
ing the  body  of  a  respected  surgeon  named  Hume,  who  had 
been  wantonly  killed  by  the  rebels,  he  ordered  four  prisoners 
to  the  front  and  had  them  shot.  It  was  stern  justice,  and 
afterward  met  with  condemnation  from  the  many  people 
who  seem  to  think  that  invasions  and  wars  and  rebellions 
can  be  put  down  with  rose-water.  Colonel  Prince  cared  noth- 
ing for  this  kind  of  clamor,  nor  did  Sir  George  Arthur,  the 
new  Lieutenant-Governor  in  place  of  Sir  Francis  Bond  Head. 
When  the  final  trials  were  over,  the  latter  deliberately  allowed 
the  law  to  take  its  course,  and  two  of  the  rebel  leaders — 
Lount  and  Matthews  —  who  had  failed  to  escape  to  the 
States,  were  executed  as  a  result  of  their  conviction  and 
sentence. 

RESULTS   OF   THE  RISING 


This  was  the  end  of  the  trouble  in  the  Upper  Province. 
It  had  never  been  a  serious  rising  as  regards  numbers,  or 
influence,  or  possible  result.  It  had  brought  good  out  of  evil 
by  creating  a  reaction  against  the  irresponsible  utteiances  of 
demagogues,  which  were  as  injurious  to  the  country,  even 
from  the  standpoint  of  present  beliefs,  as  was  the  irresponsible 


THE    TROUBLES    OF   18S7S8 


201 


government  of  men  who  were  at  least  honorable  and  honest. 
It  had  shown  the  rock-bottom  of  popular  loyalty  beneath  all 
the  froth  and  foam  of  foolish  public  speeches.  It  had  sep- 
arated the  moderate  and  loyal  Reformers,  or  Liberals,  who 
were  willing  to  work  and  wait  for  changes  which  were  bound 
to  come  in  time,  from  the  fantastic  advocates  of  independence 
and  republicanism.  It  had  made  clear  the  fact  that  a  rebel- 
lion upon  American  soil  is  not  always  successful,  and  it  had 
once  more  shown  how  right  the  Loyalists  were  in  fearing 
American  influence  upon  Canadian  politics  and  government. 
It  had  proved  that  nothing  was  to  be  gained  by  violence,  and 
that  the  best  way  to  obtain  honest  reform  was  not  by  abusing 
an  honest  opponent,  but  by  presenting  to  the  people  a  plain 
and  loyal  policy  in  opposition  to  the  clearly  understood  Tory- 
ism of  the  dominant  party. 

The  Rebellion  did  not  bring  about  responsible  govern- 
ment. The  Imperial  authorities  had  already  admitted  the 
principle  in  New  Brunswick,  and  it  was  only  the  personal 
opposition  of  Sir  Archibald  Campbell  and  the  coming  menace 
of  insurrection  elsewhere  that  delayed  its  adoption.  In  con- 
junction with  the  preceding  violence  and  disloyalty  of  Papi- 
neau  and  Mackenzie  and  their  associates,  the  Rebellion  re- 
tarded rather  than  advanced  the  consummation  of  popular 
government.  The  whole  correspondence  of  this  period  be- 
tween the  Governors  and  the  Colonial  Office  reveals  a  sensi- 
tive desire  to  conciliate  Canadian  Frenchmen  and  Canadian 
Radicals.  The  recall  of  Governor  after  Governor  indicates 
still  further  the  strength  of  this  feeling,  and  there  is  little 
doubt  that  had  the  agitation  for  responsible  government  been 
conducted  with  moderation,  and  based  upon  a  genuine  con- 
ception of  what  was  wanted,  the  desired  result  would  have 
come,  not  only  without  rebellion  and  with  pleasure  on  the 
part  of  the  Home  Government,  but  without  the  years  of  fric- 
tion which  were  still  to  follow. 

So  far  as  Great  Britain  was  concerned,  concession  after 
concession  had  been  made.  The  constitution,  under  the 
terms  of  the  Act  of  1791,  allowed  the  union  of  Church  and 


|i 


202 


THE  STORY   OF   THE  DOMINION 


State,  but  the  principle  was  not  pressed,  except  by  the  per- 
sonal influence  of  the  Governors,  and  did  not  ultimately  pre- 
vail. The  exclusive  privileges  claimed  by  the  Church  of 
England  were  not  m  lintained.  The  connection  of  the  Judges 
with  the  Legislative  Couneilfl  wero  sovered.  Obnoxior<i  laws 
were  repealed  and  minor  causes  of  complaint  removed.  The 
Indian  administration  under  Imperial  auspices  was  admi- 
rable, and  large  sums  were  paid  from  the  British  Exchequer 
for  Indian  maintenance.  The  expense  of  keeping  large  mili- 
tary forces  in  the  country,  as  a  result  of  the  unpleasant  feel- 
ing in  the  States,  was  borne  as  cheerfully  as  had  been  the 
enormou  i  cost  of  the  War  of  1812.  Popular  rights  of  public 
meeting  had  been  fully  granted  despite  the  opposition  of  the 
governing  class.  A  tax  had  been  placed  on  wild  lands,  so  as 
to  prevent  their  being  held  by  speculators.  Commission  after 
Commission  had  come  out  to  try  and  solve  a  situation  which 
the  men  on  the  spot  did  not  fully  understand,  and  which  the 
Colonial  Office  can  hardly  be  blamed  for  not  finding  as  clear 
as  daylight. 

In  the  Maritime  Provinces,  the  only  effect  of  the  Eebellion 
had  been  to  produce  an  echo  of  the  loyalty  shown  in  Upper 
CanadK  by  the  masses,  and  in  Lower  Canada  by  the  Church 
and  the  classes.  Major-General  Sir  John  Harvey,  in  New 
Brunswick,  had  offered  his  Legislature  and  Sir  John  Col- 
borne  to  lead  the  militia  of  the  Province  against  the  rebels, 
if  help  should  be  needed,  and  declared  to  the  latter  that  he 
could  depend  upon  New  Brunswick  to  a  man.  The  Legisla- 
ture afterward  expressed  its  thanks  to  Sir  Erancis  Bond 
Head  and  the  gallant  volunteers  of  Upper  Canada  for  what 
they  had  done  in  suppressing  the  insurrection.  The  Nova 
Scotia  authorities  also  offered  men  and  money. 

Now,  however,  that  the  serious  troubles  were  over  others 
seemed  inevitable.  The  constitution  in  Lower  Canada  had 
been  suspended,  the  two  Provinces  were  under  the  govern- 
ment of  strong  military  men  such  as  Colbome  and  Arthur, 
the  Upper  Canadian  Tories  were  triumphant  at  the  polls 
and  apparently  intrenched  in  power  for  a  long  time  to  come, 


LORD   DURHAM   AND   THE    UNION 


108 


tha  French  Canadians  were  silent  and  somewhat  sullen,  the 
English  Radicals  and  American  Republicans  were  scattered 
and  broken  in  influence.  This  situation  clearly  could  not 
last  long,  and  it  required  a  man  of  exceptional  ability  to  re- 
organize affairs  and  to  straighten  out  the  complicated  issues 
of  the  time.     That  man  came  in  the  person  of  Lord  Durham. 


'rr !■::■::     s  '•y^]-}. 


■. »  »  ,» 

CHAPTER  XII 


LORD  DURHAM  AND    THE   UNION  OF  THE   CANADAS 

ONE  of  the  most  picturesque  and,  perhaps,  the  most 
commanding  of  figures  in  Canadian  history  is  that 
of  John  George  Lambton,  Earl  of  Durham.  Of 
high  political  reputation  at  home  and  with  a  future  in  which 
the  Liberal  Premiership  was  supposed  to  be  within  his  reach, 
of  attractive  and  striking  personality  and  with  an  Earldom 
won  by  services  to  the  state,  he  flashed  like  a  meteor  over 
the  disturbed  scene  of  Canadian  affairs  in  1838.  Within  a 
period  of  six  months  he  illumined  the  prolonged  record  of 
Canadian  controversy  and  agitation  with  a  brilliantly  com- 
prehensive Report  in  which  he  laid  down  the  principles  of 
Colonial  constitutional  government  for  the  first  and  for  all 
time;  provided  a  policy  upon  which  the  administration  of 
a  great  Empire  is  to-day  based;  earned  a  reputation  which  is 
world-wide  in  extent.  Then  he  returned  home  in  a  sudden 
burst  of  passion  to  die  a  disappointed  death  within  a  few 
months  and  without  realizing  the  great  place  he  had  made 
for  himself  in  the  annals  of  his  country. 


THE  RIGHT  MAN  IN  THE  RIGHT  PLACE 


«  i  ...' 


Delicate  in  health,  sensitive  and  high-strung  in  tempera- 
ment, imperious  in  conduct  and  manner,  he  was  eminently 
fitted  to  shine  in  some  great  Eastern  pro-consulate  where 
power  would  have  been  in  his  own  hands  and  the  petty  pin- 
pricks of  political  enemies  and  critics  would  not  have  con- 


It 


204 


THE  STOBY   OF   THE   DOMINION 


tinually  wounded  his  personal  feelings.  He  was  not  suited 
to  the  conflicts  of  public  life,  and  despite  his  position  and 
brilliant  abilities  could  never  have  really  reached  the  posi- 
tion which  his  friends  had  hoped  for  him.  Yet,  for  Canada, 
strange  as  it  may  seem,  he  was,  at  the  moment  of  his  coming, 
the  right  man  in  the  right  place. 

The  popular  respect  for  the  Queen's  Representative  which 
was  usually  shown,  if  not  always  felt,  had  been  somewhat 
injured  by  the  prolonged  and  savage  attacks  of  Papineau 
upon  Dalhousie  arid  Gosford,  and  of  Mackenzie  upon  Sir 
Francis  Bond  Head,  and  Lord  Durham  provided  a  splendid 
and  stately  setting  for  the  position.  Too  many  of  the  Gov- 
ernors-General had  received  scant  support  in  their  policy 
from  the  Colonial  Office,  and  their  limited  powers,  or  quickly 
changed  instructions,  had  prevented  continuity  of  adminis- 
tration and  system.  Lord  Durham  came,  it  was  announced, 
with  full  authority  to  settle  the  country,  to  assuage  animosi- 
ties and  to  prevent  further  trouble — by  the  strong  hand 
if  necessary.  <  v  .  .  - :" 

HIS    POLICY    AND    SHORT    ADMINISTRATION 

The  Tories  and  Loyalists  were  pleased  with  his  dignity  of 
demeanor,  his  great  reticence,  his  stately  ceremonial  where- 
ever  he  went,  his  evident  earnestness  and  unremitting  in- 
dustry. The  Liberals  and  discontented  section  were  charmed 
with  his  reputation  for  Liberalism,  his  refusal  to  come  under 
the  control  of  the  dominant  party,  and  his  keen  investigation 
of  grievances.  The  French  were  more  easily  and  naturally 
impressed  by  the  splendor  of  his  hospitality  and  viceregal 
state  than  perhaps  any  other  part  of  the  population. 

Hence  it  was  that  when  Lord  Durham  landed  at  Quebec 
on  May  29,  1838,  as  the  special  High  Commissioner  of  his 
Sovereign  and  as  Governor-General  of  all  British  America, 
he  entered  upon  what  seemed  to  promise  a  pre-eminently  suc- 
cessful administration  amid  conditions  of  admitted  difficulty. 
He  reorganized  temporarily  the  government  of  Lower  Can- 
ada; but  without  the  constitution  which  had  been  suspended 


<' 


LORD   DURHAM   AND    THE    UNION 


205 


by  Sir  John  Colborne.  He  had  with  him  an  excellent  stafiF, 
chief  of  whom  was  Mr.  Charles  Duller,  and  these  men  joined 
in  conducting  the  inquiries  which  were  initiated  in  every 
direction.  With  restless  energy  ho,  himself,  traveled  over 
the  country,  investigated  every  possible  grievance,  wrote  in- 
numerable despatches,  and  charmed  every  one  with  a  bound- 
less hospitality.  A  meeting  of  the  Lieutenant-Governors 
of  the  various  Provinces  was  called  and  much  was  learned 
from  the  discussions  and  explanations  which  followed;  while 
Lord  Durham,  with  an  eye  upon  the  far-distant  future,  which 
then  seemed  as  impossible  as  a  federation  of  South  Africa 
seems  difficult  to-day,  suggested  the  federated  union  of  all  the 
Provinces  as  a  policy  which  would  ensure  peace  and  progress. 

His  great  trouble,  however,  was  with  the  prisoners  who 
crowded  the  jails  of  the  country  and  with  the  rebel  leaders 
who  had  escaped  and  might  return  at  any  moment  to  renew 
disturbance  and  promote  discontent.  Complete  amnesty  he 
deemed  unwise,  and,  as  it  eventually  turned  out,  his  alleged 
harshness  was  not  sufficient  to  prove  a  necessary  warning. 
The  less  important  prisoners  were  freed  upon  promise  of  good 
behavior,  but  vnth.  the  ringleaders  who  had  escaped  to  the 
States  he  could  do  nothing  except  prohibit  their  return  under 
penalties.  From  the  general  amnesty  he  also  excluded  eight 
prisoners  of  whom  the  chief  was  Dr.  Wolfred  Nelson.  There 
being  no  trial  by  jury  in  the  Province  of  Lower  Canada,  as 
a  result  of  the  suspension  of  its  constitution,  no  possibility 
of  such  a  thing  under  existing  popular  opinion,  and  no  law 
covering  the  state  of  the  case.  Lord  Durham  took  the  mat- 
ter into  his  o^vn  hands  as  Judge  and  jury,  and,  with  a  legiti- 
mate belief  that  his  full  and  yet  vague  authority  entitled 
him  to  discretionary  action,  banished  these  eight  rebels  to 
Bermuda  on  pain  of  execution  for  high  treason  should  they 
return.  • -.._  v.^-,^.^^— t- 

Then  came  the  complication  which  seems  to  have  been 
inevitable  whenever  a  strong  ruler  in  Colonial  history  has 
struck  out  a  strong  policy  for  himself,  and,  therefore,  come 
into  conflict  with  a  weak  or  ignorant  Colonial  Minister  at 


II 


_  - 


206 


THE  STORY   OF   THE  DOMINION 


home.  Lord  Dorchester  and  Lord  Dalhousie  in  Canada  had 
already  suffered  in  this  way  and  Sir  George  Grey  and  Sir 
Bartle  Frere  are  memorable  instances  in  South  Africa. 
Such  weakness  is  not  likely  to  exist  or  to  be  influential  again, 
under  present  conditions,  but  it  served  to  ruin  the  happiness 
and  the  life-work  of  this  sincere  and  sensitive  statesman. 
His  action  was  irregular  but  could  easily  have  been  made 
regular.  The  Governor  of  Bermuda  claimed  that  he  had  no 
authority  to  hold  the  prisoners.  The  antagonists  of  Lord 
Durham  in  the  British  Parliament,  and  chief  among  them 
the  brilliant,  bitter,  and  erratic  personality  of  Lord  Brough- 
am, inveighed  strongly  against  the  policy  as  illegal  and 
unjustifiable;  the  Imperial  Government  unfairly  and  un- 
wisely weakened  under  an  attack  which  should  have  been 
honestly  and  vigorously  met,  and  disallowed  the  decree; 
Lord  Durham  threw  up  his  office  with  indignation,  issued  a 
proclamation  declaring  that  he  had  been  unsupported  in  his 
necessary  punishment  of  notorious  rebels,  and  returned  home 
without  waiting  for  a  recall  or  for  the  receipt  of  his  resigna- 
tion in  London.  It  was  not  statesmanship  to  give  way  to 
such  a  sudden  sentiment  of  rage,  however  justified  by  the 
supineness  of  those  who  should  have  stood  by  him.  But  the 
action  was  little  more  than  a  spot  on  the  sun  of  his  real  suc- 
cess. He  had  practically  done  his  great  work.  His  Keport 
on  the  condition  of  British  America  was  well  in  h.*iid,  and 
doubtless  was  largely  added  to  during  the  long,  slow  voyage 
home,  and  a  reputation  thus  secured  in  the  pages  of  history 
greater  than  that  won  by  the  brilliant  vagaries  of  a  Brougham 
or  the  gay  and  almost  forgotten  honhommie  of  a  Melbourne. 
Still,  he  had  to  encounter  the  coldness  of  official  sentiment 
as  shown  in  the  refusal  to  accord  him  the  usual  salute  on  the 
arrival  of  his  ship  and  to  chafe  under  the  ignorant  criticism 
of  clever  men  in  the  Houses  of  Parliament.  He  had  to  face 
a  situation  which  his  proud  spirit  could  not  brook,  which  the 
kindly  reception  of  the  populace  could  not  counteract,  which 
the  knowledge  of  being  in  the  right  could  not  assuage;  and 
within  a  few  months  the  delicate,  warm-hearted,  impulsive, 


LORD   DURHAM    AND    THE    UNION 


207 


and  brilliantly  capable  nobleman  had  passed  away,  leaving  a 
document  which  is  enshrined  in  the  annals  of  liberty  and 
constitutional  rule.  It  was  communicated  to  the  British  Par- 
liament on  February  ll,  1839,  and  composes,  with  hs  nu- 
merous appendices  and  subsidiary  reports,  a  most  elaborate 
study  of  the  early  political  history  of  British  America — a 
voluminous  and  most  valuable  summary  of  conditions  and 
sentiments  and  tendencies  in  the  Provinces.  As  a  result  of 
six  months'  labor  and  experience  it  is  marvelous  in  scope 
and  character;  as  a  correct  and  impartial  statement  and 
prophetic  picture  of  the  future,  it  is  still  more  so. 

THE  DURHAM    EEPORT 

Of  course,  all  Lord  Durham's  conclusions  and  assertions 
were  not  accurate ;  and  mistakes  are  to  be  found  and  sins  of 
omission  and  commission  easily  proven.  Sir  Francis  Bond 
Head,  Bishop  Strachan,  and  Sir  John  Beverley  Robinson, 
from  the  standpoint  of  the  Loyalist  and  Tory,  found  much 
to  criticise  and  certainly  did  their  duty  up  to  the  hilt.  The 
French  Canadians  found  reason  for  copious  denunciation  and 
to  this  day  the  name  of  Durham  is  hardly  one  to  conjure  with 
in  Quebec.  It  was  quite  impossible  to  please  both  Tory  and 
Liberal  in  Canada  and  his  advocacy  of  responsible  government 
might  be  justly  expected  to  antagonize  the  former.  It  was  also 
impossible  to  please  the  French  at  this  juncture  and  especially 
when  recommending  the  imion  of  the  Canadas.  Yet,  the 
strength  of  his  statements  regarding  the  population  of  Lower 
Canada  was  the  one  great  error  in  the  Report.  It  did  not 
invalidate  the  value  of  his  recommendations  or  control  greatly 
his  conclusions,  but  it  had  the  effect  of  weakening  the  influ- 
ence of  his  whole  policy  in  the  French  Canada  of  the  future. 

He  seems  to  have  felt  intensely  the  unworthiness  of  the  at- 
titude assumed  by  the  French  Assembly.  From  its  point  of 
view  he  declared  the  English  were  a  loreign  and  a  hostile 
race ;  settlement  and  immigration  were  to  be  checked  as  tend- 
ing to  the  possible  aggrandizement  of  these  aliens ;  taxes  were 
not  to  be  imposed  for  purposes  of  development,  or  for  such 


208 


THE   STORY    OF   THE   DOMINION 


objects  as  the  improvement  of  Montreal  Harbor,  because  the 
expenditure  might  benefit  English  interests;  applications  for 
hanks  and  railways  and  canals  were  to  be  put  aside  for  similar 
reasons;  the  Feudal  tenure  must  be  supported  and  persisted 
in  because  it  was  a  French  institution ;  a  tax  on  immigrants 
should  be  advocated  and  largely  supported ;  while  any  meas- 
ure retarding  English  purposes  or  checking  English  invest- 
ment would  be  certain  of  approval.  All  this  was  true 
enough,  but  it  hardly  justified  the  following  conclusion: 
"Nor  do  I  exaggerate  the  inevitable  constancy  any  more  than 
the  intensity  of  this  animosity.  Never  again  will  the  present 
generation  of  French  Canadians  yield  a  loyal  submission  to 
a  British  Government;  never  again  will  the  English  popula- 
tion tolerate  the  authority  of  a  House  of  Assembly  in  which 
the  French  shall  possess,  or  even  approximate  to,  a  majority." 

However,  good  came  of  error,  and  the  very  strength  of 
Durham's  belief  in  the  disloyal  sentiment  of  the  French 
race  in  Lower  Canada  led  him  to  seek  a  solution  of  the  prob- 
lem in  the  merging  of  the  French  in  that  Province  with  the 
English  in  the  other  Provinces.  Failing  the  immediate  frui- 
tion of  this  far-seeing  policy  of  a  federal  union,  he  pressed 
the  proposal  to  unite  Upper  and  Lower  Canada.  He  believed 
that  this  policy  would  cause  parties  which  were  divided  on 
racial  or  sectarian  lines  to  be  reconstituted  upon  questions  of 
general  development  and  local  interest.  The  one  race  would 
balance  the  other,  one  Church  influence  would  be  offset  by  an- 
other, and  new  combinations  and  conditions  would  change, 
for  the  better,  the  whole  surface  of  society.  It  might  not  be  so 
at  once,  and  during  the  existing  generation  he  did  not  antici- 
pate much  difference  or  change  in  the  sentiment  of  Lower 
Canada,  but  in  the  end  the  result  was  reasonably  certain. 

His  analysis  of  the  constitutional  issue  was  masterly.  He 
caught  up  all  the  vague  threads  of  thought  upon  the  subject 
as  they  floated  through  the  controversies  of  years ;  sifted  the 
discussion  of  extraneous  matters  which  had  clouded  the  real 
issue;  cleared  the  air  of  many  misunderstandings  upon  the 
one  side  and  of  dense  prejudices  on  the  other.     He  enabled 


LORD   DURHAM   AND    THE    VNICN 


209 


the  Liberals  to  eventually  evolve  in  some  clearness  the  prin- 
ciples they  were  so  blindly  groping  after  and  the  Tories  to  un- 
derstand the  policy  free  from  many  of  their  natural  suspi- 
cions, though  not  from  their  equally  natural  aversions.  He 
enabled  the  Colonial  Office  to  perceive  that  there  might  be 
some  workable  and  ioyal  method  of  enlarging^  the  scope  and 
character  of  Colonial  institutions  without  encouraging  re- 
publicanism and  secession.  4v    /      ;:r'>i;:  ' 

The  presentation  of  the  policy  was  its  own  recommenda- 
tion. It  involved  a  reconstructed  system  in  which,  by  steady 
stages  of  development,  the  Colonies  were  to  have  complete 
self-government — including  a  Legislature  with  the  same 
powers  in  Provincial  money  matters  as  the  British  Parlia- 
ment had  in  Home  affairs  and  a  Ministry  responsible  to  the 
Legislature  for  the  conduct  of  public  matters  in  the  same 
way  as  the  Imperial  Government  was  at  home.  It  does  not 
appear  that  Lord  Durham  expected  all  this  to  be  achieved 
in  a  day,  or  a  session,  in  any  of  the  Provinces ;  to  say  noth- 
ing of  it  being  done  in  the  stormy  season  which  must  follow 
the  union  of  the  CanaJas.  But  upon  the  point  of  its  neces- 
sity he  was  firmly  convinced :  "I  know  not  how  it  is  possible 
to  secure  harmony  in  any  other  way  than  by  administering 
the  Government  on  those  principles  which  have  been  found 
perfectly  efficacious  in  Great  Britain.  I  would  not  impair 
a  single  prerogative  of  the  Crown ;  on  the  contrary,  I  believe 
that  the  interests  of  the  people  of  these  Provinces  require 
the  protection  of  prerogatives -which  have  not  hitherto  been 
exercised.  But  the  Crown  must,  on  the  other  hand,  submit  to 
the  necessary  consequences  of  representative  institutions ;  and 
if  it  has  to  carry  on  the  government  in  unison  with  a  repre- 
sentative body,  it  must  consent  to  carry  it  on  by  means  of 
those  in  whom  that  representative  body  has  confidence."  *    _ 

The  ceaseless  struggle  between  Executive  and  Legislative 
functions  and  bodies  must  be  changed  into  harmonious  and 
combined  action.  "While  the  present  state  of  things  is  al- 
lowed to  last  the  actual  inhabitants  of  these  Provinces  have 


ii 

if 


The  Durham  Report,  page  106. 


210 


THE   STORY   OF   THE   DOMINION 


no  security  for  person  or  property,  no  enjoyment  of  what  they 
possess,  no  stimulus  to  industry."  The  Report  gave,  indeed, 
a  most  gloomy  picture  of  existing  conditions,  and  especially 
so  in  its  comparison  of  the  progress  on  the  American  side 
of  the  line  with  the  stagnation  on  the  Canadian  border.  To 
summarize  the  Report,  as  a  whole,  it  may  be  said  that  he 
deprecated  the  continuous  and  injurious  political  agitation, 
denounced  the  character  and  motives  of  the  French-Canadian 
leaders  and  many  of  their  people,  proposed  union  of  the  Can- 
adas  as  a  partial  cure  to  the  evils  in  the  Lower  Province, 
urged  the  creation  of  responsible  Ministries  in  all  the  Prov- 
inces as  a  panacea  for  constitutional  troubles,  proposed  the 
building  of  the  present  Inter-Colonial  Railway  from  Halifax 
to  Quebec  as  a  means  of  drawing  the  Provinces  together,  and 
advocated  the  establishment  of  municipal  institutions  as  a 
means  of  guarding  local  interests  and  advancing  political 
experience  and  knowledge.     .  /.k  is 


n 


EESULTS   OF  THE   REPORT 


Though  the  writer  of  the  document  was  put  to  one  side 
by  the  dictate  of  destiny,  his  opinions  were  at  once  embodied, 
to  a  considerable  extent,  in  an  Act  of  the  British  Parliament 
which  Lord  John  Russell  introduced  in  June,  1839.  Sir 
John  Colborne,  who  had  been  acting  as  Governor-General 
since  the  departure  of  Lord  Durham,  was  now  replaced  by 
Mr.  Charles  E.  Poulett  Thomson,  M.  P.,  and  returned  home 
to  become  eventually  Lord  Seaton  and  a  Field  Marshal  in  the 
army.  Mr.  Thomson,  who  was  soon  to  be  known  as  Lord 
Sydenham  of  Sydenham  and  Toronto,  was  a  Liberal  in  poli- 
tics and  a  shrewd,  careful,  and  diplomatic  administrator. 
He  rapidly  made  himself  familiar  with  the  complicated  situa- 
tion and  got  into  touch  with  interests  and  personages  hitherto 
far  removed  from  the  purview  of  the  Governor-General's  at- 
tention, although  of  great  importance  in  the  settlement  of 
affairs.  He  arrived  at  Montreal  in  November  and  found  the 
situation  somewhat  simplified  by  the  fact  that  the  proposals 
contained  in  Lord  J.  Russell's  Bill  did  not  have  to  run  the 


1 1 


LORD    DURHAM    AND    THE    UNION 


211 


gantlet  of  French  approval — excepting  that  of  a  few  Seign- 
eurs included  in  the  Council  which  had  governed  the  Prov- 
ince under  Durham  and  Colborne  during  the  previous  two 
years.  This  body  readily  accepted  the  principle  of  union 
with  Upper  Canada  which  it  declared  of  "indispensable  and 
urgent  necessity."     '^    '  .  '  ,,  ,r  j 

In  December,  he  achieved  the  exceedingly  difficult  step  of 
passing  a  favorable  motion  through  the  Legislature  of  Upper 
Canada,  which,  at  this  time,  was  fully  under  the  control  of 
the  Tory  Loyalists  in  both  its  branches.  They  were  still 
smarting  from  the  evils  of  the  Rebellion  period,  still  trium- 
phant over  the  vindication  of  their  fears  and  dislike  of  Mac- 
kenzie and  his  associates,  still  more  certain  of  the  disloyalty 
of  the  French  Canadians  than  they  had  been  before,  confi- 
dent as  ever  in  the  necessity  for  a  strong  British  administra- 
tion of  the  Provinces  without  too  much  regard  to  Radical, 
or  Liberal  or  Republican  susceptibilities.  Yet  they  were  now 
asked  by  the  Governor-General,  on  behalf  of  the  Crown  and 
the  Home  Government,  to  forego  the  advantages  of  their 
present  triumph ;  to  accept  a  union  which  meant  an  influx  of 
French  votes  into  the  joint  Assembly  sufficient  to  paralyze 
their  power  as  a  party ;  to  support  by  this  action  a  system  of 
responsible  government  which,  though  not  included  in  the 
legislation,  was  bound  to  follow  it,  and  which  they  were  con- 
scientiously bound  to  oppose ;  to  make  a  way  ready,  in  short, 
for  the  victory  of  men  who  were  nothing  less  than  rebels  in 
the  eyes  of  such  political  leaders  of  the  time  as  Draper  and 
McNab  and  Strachan  and  Sherwood. 

That  they  finally  consented  to  the  union  and  supported 
an  Address  to  the  Crown  in  its  favor  is  a  tribute,  in  the  first 
place,  to  the  genuine  unselfishness  and  sincerity  of  much  of 
the  loyalty  of  that  period,  and,  in  the  second  place,  to  the 
ability  and  tact  of  the  Governor-General.  The  former  ele- 
ment in  the  settlement  has  not  been  remembered  and  appre- 
ciated as  it  deserves,  the  latter  gives  Lord  Sydenham  a  high 
place  in  Canadian  history.  Finally,  Lord  J.  Russell  rein- 
troduced his  measure  in  the  British  Session  of  1840,  and  it 


\  : 


212 


THE  STORY   OF   THE  DOMINION 


came  into  operation  in  the  now  United  Province  of  Canada, 
on  February  10,  1841.  The  Act  provided  for  a  Legislative 
Council  of  not  less  than  20  members,  and  for  a  Legislative 
Assembly  in  which  the  old  Provinces  of  Upper  and  Lower 
Canada  would  each  be  represented  by  42  members — this 
number  being  unchangeable  except  by  a  two-thirds  majority 
in  both  Houses.  The  qualification  for  the  Assembly  was  a 
freehold  valued  at  £500  over  and  above  all  liabilities. 

The  English  language  only  was  to  be  used  and  the  limit 
of  time  for  the  duration  of  the  popular  body  was  four  years. 
Of  course,  it  could  be  dissolved  by  the  Governor-General  at 
any  time.  Provision  was  made  for  a  consolidated  revenue 
fund  on  which  the  first  charges  were  to  be  the  expense  of  col- 
lection, management,  and  receipt  of  revenues,  the  interest  of 
the  public  debt,  the  civil  list,  and  payment  of  the  clergy.* 
The  last-mentioned  item  shows  how  close  were  the  relations 
of  Church  and  State,  even  yet,  and  the  arrangement  regard- 
ing the  Civil  List  finally  disposed  of  that  much-vexed  ques- 
tion. After  these  payments  were  made  out  of  the  fund  the 
balance  was  at  the  disposal  of  the  Legislature.  All  votes, 
resolutions,  and  bills  connected  with  the  expenditure  of  pub- 
lic moneys  had  to  be  first  recommended  by  the  Governor- 
General. 

As  to  the  administration  of  this  new  system,  Lord  Syden- 
ham's position  was  a  great  advance  upon  that  of  his  prede- 
cessors. In  December,  1839,  he  had  anticipated  its  creation 
with  the  statement  that  he  had  "received  Her  Majesty's 
commands"  to  direct  the  Government  of  the  Province  in  ac- 
cordance "with  the  well-understood  interests  and  wishes  of 
the  people."  Subsequent  despatches  from  Lord  John  Rus- 
sell, which  were  duly  communicated  to  the  Legislature,  em- 
bodied instructions  to  the  Governor-General  to  "maintain 
the  utmost  possible  harmony,"  and  to  call  to  his  counsels 
those  only  who  had  the  "general  confidence  and  esteem  of  the 
inhabitants  of  the  Province."     Certain  heads  of  departments 

•  Sir   J.    G.    Bourinot,    "Manual   of   the   Constitutional   History   of 
Canada,"  1888. 


HUDSON'S   BAY   COMPANY   AND   FAR   WEST        213 

were  also  to  retire  from  the  public  service  as  often  "as  suffi- 
cient motives  of  public  policy"  might  suggest  the  expediency 
of  such  a  course.  This  was  progress  in  the  direction  of  popu- 
lar government,  though  it  was  still  a  very  vague  and  uncertain 
stage  in  the  movement.  It  was  certain  to  come  in  the  end, 
but  Lord  Sydenham's  supposed  objection  to  a  radical  course 
at  this  juncture  did  not  afford  any  prospect  of  its  being  un- 
duly hastened,  and,  certainly,  his  advisers  at  Quebec  and 
Toronto  were  not  anxious  to  promote  any  sudden  change. 
Such  was  the  general  situation  when  Lord  Durham's  great 
proposal  of  union  was  put  into  form  and  shape  and  the  first 
Parliament  of  the  new  Province  was  about  to  meet. 


^iU 


'.,]:'r    <y-  :*!   :■: 


CHAPTER  XIII 


THE  HUDSON'S  BAT  COMPANY  AND   THE  FAR    WEST    i, 


THE  romance  of  history  can  give  no  more  striking  theme 
or  richer  subject  for  the  pen  of  the  word-painter  than 
is  afforded  by  the  annals  of  the  oldest  institution  of 
British  America — the  Company  of  Adventurers  of  England 
trading  into  Hudson's  Bay.  Founded  in  1672,  as  the  result 
of  an  exploratory  journey  through  the  unknown  wilds  north 
of  Lake  Superior  by  Radisson  and  De  Groseillier — ^two 
Frenchmen  of  energetic  courage — and  their  discovery  of  a 
water  route  through  Lake  Winnipeg  to  the  vast  inland  sea, 
of  ice-bound  appearance  but  great  promise;  chartered  by 
Charles  II  and  governed  in  its  early  years  by  such  men  as 
the  gallant  Prince  Rupert,  the  Duke  of  York,  who  lives  in 
history  as  King  James  II,  and  that  astute  politician  and 
great  soldier,  the  Duke  of  Marlborough;  having  rights  and 
privileges  most  far-reaching  and  complete,  extending  over  a 
vast  and  ill-defined  territory,  providing  exclusive  control 
over  trade,  lands,  mines,  and  minerals,  the  making  of  laws 
not  repugnant  to  the  laws  of  England,  and  the  raising  of 


214 


THE  STORY  OF  THE  DOMINION 


armed  forces  for  self -protection ;  possessed  of  all  these  and 
other  opportunities  and  powers  it  would  have  been  curious 
had  some  important  result  not  followed  its  establishment. 

In  one  respect  the  Hudson's  Bay  Company  imitated  its 
more  famous  prototype  in  the  East  Indies.  It  saved  a  vast 
region  to  the  Crown  and  people  of  England  and  the  future 
Canadian  commonwealth,  which  would  otherwise  have  drifted 
into  the  hands  of  France  during  the  century  of  conflict  with 
that  would-be  American  Power,  and,  perhaps,  have  remained 
there  as  not  being  thought  worth  any  very  strong  action.  Or, 
if  rescued  from  a  possibility  which  the  discoveries  and  trade 
and  pioneer  activities  of  New  France  rendered  natural,  it 
would  probably  have  fallen  to  the  United  States  during  those 
days  of  British  indifference  to  territory,  or  empire,  or  exter- 
nal power,  which  we  know  of  as  the  period  of  Manchester 
school  supremacy — a  time  when,  if  the  British  part  of  the 
world  outside  the  United  Kingdom  had  been  thrown  into  the 
scale  against  a  few  million  pounds  of  commerce,  a  few 
speeches  upon  the  beneficence  and  God-sent  greatness  of  free- 
trade,  or  the  dread  possibilities  of  war,  the  Empire  would 
too  often  have  risen  so  high  in  the  air  as  to  disappear  from 
the  real  consideration  of  the  subject. 

THE  GREAT  WILDERNESS  OF  THE  FAR  WEST 

It  was  a  great  region  which  the  Company  came  to  rule 
over.  It  stretched  from  Lake  Superior  to  Hudson's  Bay  and 
far  away  to  the  frozen  north  and  west ;  over  countries  hardly 
trod  by  the  most  adventurous  of  trappers  or  familiar  even  to 
the  most  experienced  of  Indian  wanderers.  It  extended  over 
the  prairies  and  in  time  reached  the  Selkirks  and  the  Rockies ; 
it  came  to  the  far  shores  of  the  Pacific  and  into  the  Island  of 
Vancouver,  down  the  coast  and  over  the  Oregon  and  Wash- 
ington of  the  future ;  it  expanded  north  into  the  wilds  of  Rus- 
sian America  and  the  Klondike  and  Alaska  of  a  later  time. 
The  growth  and  extension  of  the  Company  was,  however,  a 
slow  ai.d  natural  one.  In  the  earlier  days  of  its  history  the 
wars  of  the  French  and  English  reached  the  gloomy  shores 


HUDSON'S    BAY   COMPANY   AND    FAR   WEST        215 


of  the  great  Baj,  as  they  did  to  the  furthest  southern  point 
of  the  continent.  Between  1670  and  1697,  the  Company  lost 
£215,000  through  French  incursions — a  very  large  sum  in 
those  days.  And  so  matters  continued  for  nearly  a  century. 
But,  despite  the  issues  of  loss  or  gain,  of  war  or  peace,  the 
Company  kept  on  its  way  and  built  forts,  traded  with  the  In- 
dians, fought  the  French  if  need  be,  increased  its  stock,  and 
managed  to  make  profits  so  large  in  some  years  as  to  far  more 
than  counterbalance  incidental  losses.  Everywhere  through- 
out the  wilderness  its  traders  journeyed  from  fort  to  fort, 
meeting  the  Indians  in  picturesque  pow-wow,  and  exchanging 
articles  of  trivial  value  but  pretty  appearance  for  almost 
priceless  furs,  or  for  the  more  common  ones  which  were  then 
so  exceedingly  plentiful  without  being  deficient  in  value. 
Everywhere  they  found  the  element  of  adventure,  the  weird 
entertainment  of  savage  life,  the  pleasures  of  a  wild  liberty, 
the  joy  of  the  chase  over  boundless  regions  teeming  with  game 
and  animal  life. 

While  the  mastery  of  the  continent  remained  at  issue  be- 
tween England  and  France,  the  Company  was  not  subject  to 
much  external  interference  or  control,  outside  of  the  raids 
upon  its  territory  already  mentioned.  In  1720,  it  was,  there- 
fore, able  to  treble  its  capital  stock  for  a  second  time  and  to 
continue  paying  its  shareholders  comfortable  dividends.  But, 
after  the  supremacy  of  England  became  an  undisputed  fact, 
attention  was  naturally  directed  to  the  monopoly  of  the  Com- 
pany, to  the  natural  riches  of  the  region  it  controlled,  and  to 
the  possibility  of  sharing  in  its  profitable  trade.  Individual 
traders  first  drifted  into  the  country,  and  then  came  the 
organization  of  the  North- West  Company  at  Montreal,  in 
1774,  with  such  untiring  and  energetic  men  as  Stuart,  McGil- 
livray,  and  McTavish  as  its  pioneers.  In  1798,  the  "X.  Y." 
Company  was  formed  but  amalgamated  seven  years  later  with 
its  Montreal  rival.  Meanwhile,  the  Americans  had  come  in 
to  increase  the  competition  by  the  formation  of  the  Mackinaw 
Company,  and  in  1809  the  famous  South- West  Company  was 
organized  by  John  Jacob  Astor.    A  little  later  he  formed  the 


216 


THE  STORY  OF   TEE  DOMINION 


Pacific  Fur  Company,  and  up  to  1813  maintained  a  tremen- 
dous struggle  with  his  various  rivals.  In  that  year,  however, 
he  gave  in  to  the  Nor'- Westers  and  sold  the  whole  business  to 
them  for  some  $80,000. 

During  the  next  few  years  the  competition  and  jealousy  of 
the  two  great  remaining  Companies  were  intense.  The  Hud- 
son's Bay  concern  was,  for  the  time  being,  outstripped  by  its 
opponent  in  energy,  knowledge  of  the  country,  and  establish- 
ment of  trading  posts.  Owing  to  the  system  of  partnership 
by  which  officers  had  the  opportunity  of  becoming  personally 
interested  in  its  business,  the  North- West  Company  obtained 
better  men  than  did  the  other,  and,  moreover,  benefited  largely 
by  the  employment  of  French-Canadian  voyageurs,  trappers, 
and  traders — men  accustomed  to  the  wild  life  of  the  West, 
able  and  willing  to  obey  their  superiors,  despite  occasional 
lapses  into  recklessness,  and  with  pronounced  knowledge  of 
the  peculiarities  and  habits  of  the  Indians  upon  whose  as- 
sistance much  depended.  The  older  Company,  on  the  other 
hand,  preferred  to  employ  hardy  and  vigorous  North-of-Scot- 
land  men,  who,  though  reliable  and  honest,  were  too  unbend- 
ing in  their  intercourse  with  the  natives,  and  therefore  un- 
popular. This  trade  contest  did  much  incidental  good  in 
opening  up  the  country.  The  fur-traders  of  the  two  Com- 
panies pushed  their  explorations  and  traffic  in  every  direc- 
tion— away  to  the  Peace  Kiver  and  Athabaska  and  the  Great 
Slave  Lake,  over  the  Rockies  into  New  Caledonia,  or  British 
Columbia — and  among  them  all  none  was  more  active  or  suc- 
cessful than  John  Stuart,  of  the  Nor'-Westers. 


t--.- 


ALEXANDER  MACKENZIE  AND  OTHER  EXPLOBEES 


But  the  greatest  name  among  the  many  who  endured  un- 
known hardships  and  met  every  form  of  peril,  in  order  to  pro- 
vide the  modern  map  of  a  vast  civilized  region,  is  that  of 
Alexander  Mackenzie.  Between  1789  and  1793,  this  in- 
trepid traveler  discovered  the  great  river  which  bears  his 
name  and  followed  it  to  the  Arctic  seas.  He  explored  the 
Peace  River  to  its  source  and  was  the  first  white  man  to 


HUDSON'S    BAY   COMPANY   AND   FAR   WEST        217 


penetrate  the  Rockies  and  the  Selkirka  and  pass  through  those 
mighty  barriers  to  the  Pacific  Ocean.  On  the  coast  of  the 
Pacific,  at  Dean  Inlet,  there  are  still  to  be  seen  inscribed  on 
a  rock  the  words:  "Alexander  Mackenzie,  from  Canada,  by 
land,  22d  July,  1793."  He  lived  to  be  knighted  by  his  Sov- 
ereign and  to  appreciate  in  some  measure  the  greatness  of  his 
own  work.  Mackenzie  was,  during  this  period,  a  member  of 
the  North-West  Company,  but  others  who  contributed  to  the 
general  process  of  exploration  were  so  mixed  up  between  the 
two  great  concerns  that  it  is  hardly  necessary  to  differentiate 
here.  David  Thompson  explored  the  Nelson,  Churchill,  and 
Saskatchewan  Rivers,  and  was  the  first  to  follow  the  Colum- 
bia through  the  rugged  passes  of  the  Rocky  Mountains  to  the 
coast.  ■'"  '■■  ■'''''■-''  .  =  ■,-,■.     • 

Alexander  Henry,  Gabriel  Fanchon,  Ross  Cox,  Alexander 
Ross,  D.  W.  Harman,  and  John  McLeod  did  splendid  service. 
Robert  Campbell  discovered  the  Pelly  River  and  traced  it 
through  varied  wanderings  to  the  far  Yukon.  He  afterward 
made  a  famous  journey  through  the  wilds  of  the  West  and 
over  9,700  miles  of  territory  in  a  dog-sled,  or  on  snowshoes. 
Simon  Fraser,  in  1806,  discovered  and  explored  the  great 
mountain  river  of  British  Columbia  which  bears  his  name. 
In  1828,  Sir  George  Simpson,  the  Governor  of  the  Hudson's 
Bay  Company,  traversed  in  a  canoe  the  same  turbulent  river 
from  near  its  source  to  the  ocean  into  which  it  enters — carry- 
ing his  frail  craft  when  the  whirlpools  and  boiling  waters 
were  too  strong  for  even  his  skill.  He  made  other  long  and 
important  journeys  throughout  the  great  regions  which  he 
governed. 

Meanwhile,  explorations  and  discoveries  had  been  also 
made  by  adventurous  spirits  not  connected  with  these  Com- 
panies. In  1731,  Pierre  Gauthier  de  la  Verendrye  had  led 
a  French  expedition  up  into  the  then  unknov^nn  prairies  of 
the  West,  and  discovered  Lakes  Manitoba  and  Winnipegosis. 
Between  1769  and  1772,  Samuel  Heame  had  journeyed  over 
a  thousand  miles  in  canoes  and  on  foot  to  the  west  of  Hud- 
son's Bay,  discovered  the  Great  Slave  Lake,  and  traced  the 


I 


DOMINION — lO 


218 


THE  3T0BY   OF   THE  DOMINION 


Coppermine  River  to  its  mouth  in  the  Arctic  Ocean.  Shortly 
after  this  time  Captain  Cook  had  touched  at  Nootka  Sound, 
on  the  coast  of  Vancouver  Island,  and  then  sailed  north  to 
Bering's  Strait.  At  the  very  time  that  Mackenzie  was 
writing  his  inscription  on  the  shores  of  the  Pacific,  Captain 
Vancouver  was  exploring  the  same  region  from  the  sea  and 
sailing  around  the  island  which  bears  his  name.  In  later 
years  Sir  John  Franklin,  Sir  George  Back,  Dr.  Rae,  Sir 
John  Richardson,  P.  W.  Deane,  and  Thomas  Simpson  led 
in  the  overland  search  for  the  Northwest  Passage ;  and  their 
discoveries,  surveys,  and  records  afford  not  only  a  striking 
picture  of  peril  and  privation,  but  a  most  valuable  fund  of 
information  regarding  the  then  unknown  wilds  of  the  furthest 
north. 

As  this  work  of  increasing  knowledge  and  promoting  trade 
proceeded  through  varied  phases  of  personal  adventure  and 
commercial  rivalry,  attempts  were  naturally  made  to  establish 
settlements.  The  great  effort  was  that  of  Lord  Selkirk  in 
the  ten  years  following  1811. 

LORD   SELKIRK    AND    HIS    WORK  •" 

He  was  an  extraordinary  man  in  many  ways.  Proud  and 
independent  in  sentiment,  btern  and  uncompromising  in  de- 
termination, vigorous  and  enthusiastic  in  policy,  he  was  well 
fitted  to  be  a  pioneer  of  colonization.  Fairly  successful  in 
early  efforts  in  Prince  Edward  Island,  failing  in  the  attempt 
to  create  interest  in  settling  a  great  estate  which  he  had 
bought  in  Upper  Canada,  he  finally  turned  his  attention  to 
the  Northwest,  and  resolved  to  write  his  name  large  in  the 
making  of  that  country.  After  studying  the  position  of  af- 
fairs there  and  in  Montreal,  he  made  up  his  mind  that  the 
Hudson's  Bay  Company  were  the  eventual  masters  of  the  sit- 
uation, and  decided  to  throw  in  his  lot  with  them.  He  pur- 
chased, in  1811,  a  controlling  interest  in  its  stock — some 
£40,000  out  of  £100,000 — and  obtained  from  the  Directors, 
among  whom  were  many  of  his  friends  or  relatives,  a  grant 
of  116,000  square  miles  of  territory,  on  the  condition  that  he 


HUDSON'S   BAY   COMPANY  AND   FAR   WESl'        210 


should  establish  a  colony  and  furnish  the  Company  with  la- 
borers as  required.  This  was  practically  the  founding  of 
tlje  present  Province  of  Manitoba. 

Lord  Selkirk  at  once  brought  out  a  shipload  of  the  Duchess 
of  Sutherland's  tenants,  and,  after  varied  difficulties  and  dan- 
gers, reached  the  junction  of  the  Red  and  Assiniboine  Rivers, 
where,  near  the  site  of  the  present  City  of  Winnipeg,  the  Red 
River  Settlement  was  established.  During  the  years  that 
followed  these,  colonists,  and  others  who  joined  them  from 
time  to  time,  suffered  in  every  way  in  which  it  is  possible 
for  pioneers  to  have  trouble.  The  Nor*- Westers  considered 
the  soil  to  be  theirs,  and  every  means  of  annoyance  in  the 
power  of  a  strong  corporation  to  inflict  were  freely  used,  as 
occasion  arose,  till  they  culminated  in  a  skirmish  in  1816, 
when  Govomor  Semple,  who  was  acting  for  Lord  Selkirk, 
and  a  number  of  his  colonists,  were  killed  by  an  armed  band 
of  Nor'-Westers. 

It  was  a  typical  incident,  though  an  unusually  violent 
one,  of  the  conflict  which  was  waged  all  over  the  Northwest 
during  the  first  twenty  years  of  the  nineteenth  centurj'^  be- 
tween the  two  great  Companies.  In  this  case,  however,  it 
aroused  the  lion  that  was  in  the  Earl  of  Selkirk,  and,  though 
just  recovering  from  illness,  he  obtained  a  force  of  eighty 
soldiers  and  a  couple  of  small  cannon.  With  this  troop  he 
rushed  around  the  Great  Lakes  from  Montreal  and  through 
the  wilderness,  captured  the  chief  agent  and  several  partners 
of  the  North-West  Company,  and  sent  them  to  York  for  trial 
on  various  charges  of  murder,  arson,  and  robber  Of  course, 
they  were  not  convicted  at  such  a  distance  from  the  scene 
and  under  the  irregular  conditions  of  their  arrest;  but  the 
lesson  was  a  good  one,  and  for  the  next  few  years,  until  the 
Hudson's  Bay  Company  absorbed  its  rival  in  1821,  there  was 
more  of  peace  and  quietness  in  the  vast  region  of  their  rivalry. 

Lord  Selkirk  had  to  suffer  from  subsequent  verdicts  for 
false  imprisonment,  but  in  the  meantime  he  had  discounted 
further  interference  with  his  cherished  settlement.  He  could 
not,  however,  control  the  obstacles  offered  by  nature,  and, 


■r 


220 


THE  STORY   OF   THE   DOMINION 


though  he  over  and  over  again  brought  his  settlers  supplies 
of  food,  seed-grain,  and  implements  at  his  own  expense,  they 
yet  had  to  suffer  untold  hardships  from  exceptional  cold,  from 
floods  and  famine,  and  from  a  unique  plague  of  grasshop- 
pers, which  extended  over  two  years  and  destroyed  every 
vestige  of  crop  and  growing  food  product.  Eventually,  the 
colonists  and  their  deteri  lined  patron  succeeded,  and,  though 
the  progress  was  slow,  it  was  more  and  more  sure  as  the  years 
went  on.  When  Lord  Selkirk  died,  in  1820,  he  could  see 
that  this  success  was  at  least  probable,  though  it  is  doubtful 
indeed  if  the  Father  of  Manitoba  could  have  anticipated  the 
vast  golden  wheatfields  of  the  future,  the  whistle  of  the 
locomotive  over  the  wilderness  of  his  time,  or  the  roar  of 
traffic  in  a  large  city  where  he  had  sheltered  in  their  humble 
huts  the  first  shivering  settlers  on  the  banks  of  the  Red  River. 
As  the  years  passed  the  settlement  grew  in  size  and  im- 
portance, and  Fort  Garry  became  the  headquarters  of  the 
Hudson's  Bay  Company,  which,  in  1836,  purchased  for 
£84,000  the  land  granted  to  Lord  Selkirk  in  1811.  Grad- 
ually the  population  was  added  to  by  French  trappers  and 
hunters  and  by  half-breeds,  wlio  came  from  the  unions  of 
the  French  with  Indian  women,  and,  in  time,  constituted  a 
population  of  thousands.  Sir  George  Simpson  assumed  con- 
trol of  much  of  the  Company'^  affairs  after  its  absorption  of 
the  Nor'-Westers,  and,  from  1821  for  thirty-five  years,  he  was 
the  leading  spirit  of  the  Northwest.  He  organized  the  in- 
terests of  the  Company,  explored  and  extended  its  vast  terri- 
tories, reconciled  conflicting  conditions,  and  established  a 
vigorous  personal  control  over  everything.  During  this  pe- 
riod travelers  and  explorers  were  sure  of  assistance  and  sup- 
port at  every  fort  or  factory  of  the  Company,  while  its  busi- 
ness steadily  grew  in  volume  and  profits.  A  network  of 
trading  posts  was  constituted  right  across  the  continent,  and, 
when  the  Governor  retired  in  1856,  the  Hudson's  Bay  Com- 
pany, with  152  regular  establishments  and  over  3,000  perma- 
nent servants,  dominated  the  religious,  political,  and  social 
life  of  the  Ncrth  west.  tmy-. 


HUDSON'S    BAY   COMPANY    AND   FAR   WEST        221 

■In  Steady  progress  had  also  been  made  in  monojwlizmg  the 
fur  trade  of  the  Pacific  Coast.  Forts  were  established,  routes 
laid  out  and  maintained,  Indians  conciliated  and  employed. 
In  1847,  the  Governor  of  the  Company  in  London  informed 
Lord  Grey,  Colonial  Secretary,  that  it  was  willing  to  "under- 
take the  government  and  colonization  of  all  the  territories 
belonging  to  the  Crown  in  North  America,  and  receive  a 
grant  accordingly."  While  creditable  to  its  ambition  and 
self-confidence,  such  an  extensive  proposal  could  hardly  com- 
mend itself  to  the  authorities;  but  in  the  following  year  a 
more  moderate  one,  which  involved  the  management  of  New 
Caledonia  and  the  grant  of  Vancouver  Island  for  ten  years 
under  a  pledge  of  colonization,  was  accepted  after  consider- 
able debate  in  the  House  of  Commons. 

The  leading  spirit  of  the  Company  in  what  is  now  the 
Province  of  British  Columbia  and  the  States  of  Washington 
and  Oregon,  was,  during  these  years,  the  vigorous  and  in- 
trepid Sir  James  Douglas.  Like  Simpson,  in  the  central 
regions  of  the  West,  he  rose  out  of  the  amalgamation  of 
1821,  became  Chief  Factor  of  the  Pacific  region  in  1842, 
established  a  trading  post  where  the  City  of  Victoria  now 
stands,  on  Vpncouver  Island,  and,  in  1851,  became  Governor 
of  the  Island  under  the  Company.  In  1859  the  Imperial 
authorities  took  over  this  region  owing  to  the  Company  not 
having  kept  its  agreement  to  colonize,  but  Douglas  was  main- 
tained in  his  position  as  Governor  of  the  island  as  well  as 
of  the  mainland  which  was  now  to  be  known  as  the  Province, 
or  Colony,  of  British  Columbia. 

INTERNATIONAL   DIFFICULTIES   OF  THE   COMPANY       .  .- 

*  ( 

■  Meanwhile,  the  Company  had  been  subject  to  various  in- 
ternational difficulties,  or  complications,  as  a  result  of  the 
advance  of  its  interests  and  influence  into  regions  north  and 
south  of  British  Columbia — or  New  Caledonia,  as  it  then 
was.  In  1833,  it  had  taken  advantage  of  the  clause  in  the 
Anglo-Russian  Treaty  of  1835,  which  provided  for  the  free 
navigation  of  streams  running  through  Alaska  from  their 


It 

I 


222 


THE  STORY  OF   THE  DOMINION 


source  in  British  territory,  and  had  pushed  forward  a  trad- 
ing post  to  the  Stikine  River,  besides  fitting  out  a  brig  for 
the  protection  of  its  property.  Governor  Wrangel,  of  Alaska, 
promptly  objected  to  these  proceedings  on  behalf  of  the 
Russian  Fur  Company;  appealed  to  the  authorities  at  St. 
Petersburg  and  obtained  a  promise  that  the  free  navigation 
clause  should  be  terminated  in  the  following  year ;  and  then, 
without  waiting  for  a  legal  excuse,  forced  the  British  Com- 
pany's vessel  to  retire  from  Russian  territory  under  penalty 
of  immediate  destruction.  The  British  Government  was  at 
once  appealed  to,  £20,000  damages  claimed,  and  a  diplomatic 
difficulty  precipitated.  Eventually,  after  a  conference  had 
been  held  in  London,  the  question  was  settled  between  the 
two  fur  companies  themselves,  the  British  one  obtaining  the 
lease  of  Alaskan  privileges  and  rights  for  a  rental  of  2,000 
land  otter  skins  per  annum  and  a  large  supply  of  provisions 
at  moderate  rates  to  the  Russian  colony.  Th9  arrangement 
proved  satisfactory  and  was  renewed  at  intervals  until  Alaska 
became  a  United  States  possession.  The  boundaries  of  Hud- 
son's Bay  territory,  or  the  Company's  indemnification  for 
losses  sustained  in  war,  had  also  found  a  prominent  place 
in  the  Treaties  of  Ryswick  and  Utrecht  with  France,  and  in 
the  Convention  of  London  wiih  the  United  States,  in  1818. 

The  most  important  of  these  international  questions  was 
that  connected  with  the  Company's  claim  to  the  region  of 
land  now  occupied  by  the  States  of  Oregon  and  Washington. 
Had  it  been  sustained  all  that  great  country  would  have  be- 
come British  territory,  the  San  Juan  difficulty  would  have 
been  averted,  the  rise  of  Provincial  coast  cities  such  as  Van- 
couver would  not  have  been  checked  by  the  competition  of 
Seattle  and  other  places,  and  the  mining  interests  and  re- 
sources of  British  Columbia  would  have  had  a  fuller  freedom 
of  development. 

But,  by  the  Treaty  of  Oregon,  these  important  clain^s 
were  abandoned  on  the  part  of  England,  the  country  claimed 
was  given  up  to  the  United  States,  and  a  splendid  heritage 
of  the  future  surrendered  for  present  peace  and  quietness. 


_^'i< 


HUDSON'S    BAY   COMPANY   AND    FAR   WEST        228 


The  Hudson's  Bay  Company,  however,  claimed  indemnity 
for  its  rights  of  occupation  and  trade,  and,  finally,  in  1863, 
a  commission  composed  of  Alexander  J.  Johnson,  on  behalf 
of  the  United  States,  and  Sir  John  Rose,  on  behalf  of  Great 
Britain,  met  at  Washington  and  awarded  the  company  $600,- 
000.  This  was  paid,  after  repeated  representations,  in  two 
instalments — July,  1870,  and  February,  1871.  ;  - 

I  By  this  time,  however,  the  knell  of  the  Company's  ruling 
power  had  been  struck  and  it  had  ceased  to  be  a  governing 
and  creative  factor  in  the  making  of  the  Empire.  The  period 
of  its  greatest  influence  had  been  the  middle  of  the  nineteenth 
century  when  it  wielded  more  or  less  authority  over  a  wide, 
though  undefined,  region  now  belonging  to  Great  Britain 
and  the  United  States.  It  then  boasted  a  capital  and  assets 
of  over  $7,000,000,  a  complete  monopoly  of  trade,  and  an 
influence  over  150,000  Indians  which  was  absolute,  and,  upon 
the  whole,  wielded  with  wisdom  and  kindliness — especially  in 
the  restraints  imposed  upon  the  sale  of  liquor.  But  at  this 
time,  the  Province  of  Canada  had  begun  to  see  openings  for 
trade  and  development  to  the  north  and  west  and  to  feel 
some  jealousy  of  the  power  held  by  the  Company.  The 
arrangement  regarding  Vancouver  Island  was  closely  watched 
both  at  Toronto  and  London,  as  was  the  growth  of  the  Red 
River  Settlement;  while  the  coming  lapse  of  the  twenty- 
one  years'  grant  of  exclusive  trade  given  to  the  Company 
in  1838  was  borne  carefully  in  mind.  As  a  result  of  these 
conditions  a  Select  Committee  was  appointed  by  the  Imperial 
House  of  Commons,  in  1857,  "to  consider  the  state  of  those 
British  possessions  in  North  America  which  are  under  the 
license  of  the  Hudson's  Bay  Company,  or  over  which  it 
possesses  a  License  of  Trade." 

-:  Mr.  Gladstone,  Lord  J.  Russell,  Lord  Stanley,  Mr.  Roe- 
buck, Mr.  Edward  Ellice,  Mr.  Robert  Lowe,  and  other  well- 
known  public  men  were  appointed  to  this  Committee,  and, 
after  careful  and  voluminous  inquiry,  it  was  declared  in  the 
final  Report  that  the  desire  of  Canada  to  annex  a  portion 
of  this  vast  region  for  purposes  of  settlement  and  develop- 


224 


THE   STORY   OF   THE  DOMINION 


ment  was  ju8t  and  reasonable ;  that  the  Red  River  and  Sas- 
katchewan districts  should  be  ceded  to  that  Province  upon 
equitable  conditions ;  that  the  Company's  rule  on  Vancouver 
Island  should  cease;  that  in  view  of  the  danger  to  the  In- 
dians from  any  system  of  open  competition  in  the  fur  trade, 
and  because  of  the  probable  indiscriminate  destruction  of 
valuable  fur-bearing  animals  under  such  conditions,  the 
purely  trade  monopoly  of  the  Company  should  be  preserved 
for  the  present.  In  1862  the  Hon.  (afterward  Sir)  W.  P. 
Rowland,  and  the  Hon.  L.  V.  Sicotte,  members  of  the  Cana- 
dian Government,  proceeded  to  London  for  the  purpose  of 
pressing  the  annexation  project  upon  the  Imperial  authori- 
ties. During  the  early  part  of  the  succeeding  year.  Sir 
Edward  W.  Watkin,  an  energetic  capitalist  who  had  ut.en 
previously  interested  in  the  Grand  Trunk  and  Inter-Colonial 
Railway  enterprises,  and  who  had  visions  of  a  British  trans- 
continental line,  organized  a  Company  which  took  over  the  as- 
sets of  the  old  Hudson's  Bay  corporation,  reconstructed  it  with 
a  capital  of  £2,000,000  sterling,  and  proceeded  to  negotiate, 
cordially  and  comprehensively,  with  the  Canadian  and  British 
authorities. 

Sir  Edmund  W.  Head,  lately  Governor-General  of  British 
America,  was  Governor  of  the  Company  and  favored  a  com- 
plete sale  of  rights  and  ownership.  Various  negotiations  fol- 
lowed between  the  British  and  Canadian  and  Company  au- 
thorities, including  a  fruitless  mission  in  1865  by  the  Hon. 
George  Brown,  and,  finally,  on  December  14,  1867,  after 
the  jonfederation  of  the  older  Provinces  into  a  Dominion 
had  taken  place,  the  Hon.  William  McDougall  introduced 
in  the  new  House  of  Commons  a  series  of  resolutions  upon 
the  subject.  They  declared  that  the  Dominion  of  Canada 
should  be  extended  to  the  shores  of  the  Pacific;  that  the 
colonization  of  the  Northwest,  the  development  of  its  min- 
eral resources,  and  the  extension  of  trade  within  its  bounds 
were  alike  dependent  upon  a  stable  government,  and  that 
the  welfare  of  its  sparse  population  would  be  promoted  by 
the  extension  of  Canadian  government  and  institutions  over 


HUDSON'S   BAY   COMPANY   AND    FAR   WEST        225 


'it 
If 

5 


the  entire  region.  Ih  the  following  year  Mr.  McDougall 
and  Sir  George  Cartier  went  to  England  to  try  and  arrange 
terms,  and,  in  1869,  the  arrangements  were  finally  consum- 
mated between  the  Governments  concerned. 

Canada  had  claimed  the  whole  region  as  of  right;  it  now 
accepted  the  territory  upon  condition  of  paying  £300,000 
sterling  to  the  Company.  It  granted,  at  the  same  time,  a 
twentieth  of  all  lands  surveyed  for  settlement  in  what  was 
called  Rupert's  Land,  and  gave  certain  guarantees  against 
undue  taxation.  The  Company,  on  its  side,  retained  posses- 
sion of  its  historic  trading-posts  and  maintained  its  influence 
with  the  natives  and  its  special  facilities  for  the  fur  trade. 
Though  the  trading  monopoly  was  lost,  and  the  progress  of 
settlement  and  railways  in  time  changed  the  nature  of  much 
of  its  business,  the  Hudson's  Bay  Company  continued  to  be, 
and  is  to-day,  a  great  power  in  the  commerce  and  upbuilding 
of  the  Northwest. 

It  was  truly  an  Imperial  heritage  which  the  new  Dominion 
thus  acquired.  Its  lakes  were  like  great  seas,  its  rivers  ran 
in  some  cases  2,000  miles  from  the  source  to  the  sea,  its  fer- 
tile and  unknown  wheatfields  were  to  prove  practically  il- 
limitable, its  atmosphere  was  found  to  be  bracing  and  full  of 
a  tonic  which  can  be  found  nowhere  else.  Its  seasons  were 
beautiful  and  pleasant  in  their  warmth,  healthy  and  strength- 
giving  in  their  cold.  Upon  its  vast  plains  the  flowers  of 
springtime  bloomed  with  peculiar  beauty ;  overhead  the  sum- 
mer sun  blazed  in  a  strength  which  forced  the  crops  to  a  rich 
and  rare  fruition.  The  rivers  and  lakes  were  found  to  teem 
with  fish,  the  plains,  near  the  Rockies,  to  be  pre-eminently 
protected  from  storm  and  suited  to  the  raising  of  cattle,  the 
surface  of  the  soil  to  cover  vast  coal  preserves,  petroleum 
fields,  and,  in  the  far  north,  untold  wealth  in  gold  and  iron 
and  copper.  But  most  of  these  facts  were  unknown  or  unap- 
preciated in  1869,  and  a  period  of  storm  and  stress  and  slow 
development  had  to  be  faced  before  they  reached  the  conscious- 
ness of  the  Canadian  people  and  the  knowledge  of  the  world. 


)r\     J<    ifrMT 


»■>■' 


228 


*rm       TEE   STORY   OF  THE   DOMINION 


It 


CHAPTER  XIV 


STRUGGLES   FOR  RESPONSIBLE  GOVERNMENT 


\w 


fili  I 

Iri 


NEITHER  the  troubles  of  1837,  nor  Lord  Durham's 
famous  Report,  nor  the  Union  of  the  Canadas  in 
1841,  nor  the  promising  administration  of  Lord 
Sydenham,  had  brought  into  play  or  practice  the  real  prin- 
ciples of  responsible  government — principles  which  involve 
a  Prime  Minister  selected  by  the  Queen's  Representative; 
a  Cabinet  chosen  by  the  Premier,  and,  together  with  him, 
responsible  to  the  House  of  Commons ;  a  series  of  organized 
departments  of  administration,  each  in  charge  of  a  responsible 
Minister.  Even  the  Liberal  leaders  and  most  advanced  Re- 
formers had  failed  as  yet  to  plan  out  such  a  complete  pro- 
gramme, and,  without  every  one  of  the  conditions  named  and 
including  a  defined  conception  of  the  Governor-General's  re- 
lation to  the  Imperial  Government  on  the  one  hand  and  to 
the  Colonial  Parliament  on  the  other,  no  system  could  hope 
to  be  satisfactory. 

THE  CRUDE  IDEAS  OF  RESPONSIBLE  GOVERNMENT 

Lord  Sydenham  had  the  brains  and  the  tact  and  natural 
statecraft  to  have  worked  out  some  result  which  might  have 
averted  years  of  turmoil  and  much  dissatisfaction;  but  he 
was  carried  away  by  an  accidental  fall  from  his  horse  which 
ended  in  death  on  September  19,  1841.  He  was  not  sup- 
posed to  be  entirely  in  favor  of  the  crude  ideas  of  responsible 
government  which  were  then  in  vogue,  but  he  would  undoubt- 
edly have  found  a  conciliatory  way  out  of  the  diflBculties 
which  developed  later  and  reached  such  a  height  in  the  early 
days  of  Lord  Elgin.  His  successor,  as  Governor-General,  was 
Sir  Charles  Bagot,  a  man  of  ability,  who  had  held  the  Minis- 
tership to  Washington  in  days  when  it  was  perhaps  the  most 


STRUGGLES  FOB  RESPONSIBLE  GOVERNMENT       227 


es 


diflficult  diplomatic  post  in  Her  Majesty's  service.  He  fol- 
lowed, somewhat  tentatively,  in  the  steps  of  Lord  Sydenham, 
and  died  in  March,  1843,  without  having  had  any  serious 
friction  with  his  advisers.  Sir  Charles  Metcalfe,  who  came 
out  in  his  place  and  under  appointment  by  a  Conservative 
Ministry  at  home,  was  a  very  different  man  from  either  of 
his  predecessors  and  proved  to  be  the  centre  of  one  of  the 
most  stormy  periods  in  Canadian  politics 

THE    TOKY    LEADEKS 

Meanwhile,  events  had  shown  the  action  of  the  Tory  party 
in  supporting  the  Union  to  be  well  described  as  one  of  self- 
sacrifice.  They  were  aware  that  a  House  to  be  elected  under 
the  auspices  of  a  French  majority  in  Lower  Canada,  using 
the  privilege  of  the  polls  for  the  first  time  since  the  days  of 
the  Rebellion,  and  in  Upper  Canada  under  the  prestige  af- 
forded to  their  opponents  by  supposed  instructions  from  Eng- 
land to  grant  responsible  government,  could  not  but  contain 
a  majority  opposed  to  them  and  to  their  principles.  Natu- 
rally, such  was  the  case,  and  the  House  which  was  met  by  that 
stanchest  of  Tory  leaders,  the  Hon.  W.  H.  Draper,  as  head 
of  the  Executive  Council  of  the  new  Union,  was  largely  Radi- 
cal and  French.  The  Ministry,  if  it  could  even  yet  be  called 
by  that  title,  was  composed  of  Mr.  Draper,  Hon.  R.  B.  Sul- 
livan, Hon.  S.  B.  Harrison,  Hon.  Dominick  Daly,  Hon.  C. 
R.  Ogden,  Hon.  J.  H.  Dunn,  Hon.  C.  D.  Day,  Hon.  H.  H. 
Killaly,  and,  last  but  not  least,  the  Hon.  Robert  Baldwin. 

Such  a  combination  of  determined  Tories  with  only  one 
prominent  Liberal,  in  the  person  of  Baldwin,  and  without  a 
French  representative,  naturally  could  have  little  place  in  the 
confidence  of  the  new  Assembly.  Its  very  composition  shows 
how  slightly  and  how  vaguely  the  real  principles  of  respon- 
sible government  were  understood.  The  fact  is  that  the  Gov- 
ernor-General was  still  his  own  Prime  Minister  and  still  the 
tenacious  holder  of  power  which  he  believed  to  be  essential 
to  the  interests  of  the  Mother-country  and  British  comiection. 
He  could  not  believe  that  it  was  a  part  of  his  duty  to  sur- 


1 


228 


THE  STORY   OF    THE   DOMINION      *i5t 


f.  ! 


render  the  prerogati  3f  the  Crown,  in  relation  to  appoint' 
ments  and  the  comp  don  of  his  Executive  Council,  to  any 
Minister  or  body  of  Ministers  who  must  under  the  existing 
circumstances  of  the  case  be  responsible  to  a  party  in  the 
Assembly  which  sympathized  very  largely  with  the  objects  of 
the  late  insurrection,  and  some  of  whose  leaders  seemed  op- 
posed to  the  principles  of  British  connection  which  the  Gov- 
ernor-General was  sworn  and  bound  to  guard. 

It  was  a  difficult  situation  to  face,  and  Lord  Svdenham  in 
his  brief  period  of  power  had  temporized  and  had,  no  doubt, 
planned  ways  and  means  to  meet  it  which  he  was  never  able 
to  carry  out.  Sir  Charles  Bagot  did  a  little  more  than  this 
when  the  inevitable  conflict  between  his  Draper  Executive 
and  the  House  took  place  and  Baldwin  resigned  office;  he 
formed  an  Executive  under  the  joint  leadership  of  L.  H. 
Lafontaine  and  Baldwin  himself.  It  wps  a  Liberal  Ministry 
with  a  fair  French  representation,  and,  with  the  experience 
of  after  years  in  the  minds  of  both  Governor  and  Ministers, 
might  have  lasted  some  time.  But  such  conditions  could  not, 
of  course,  exist,  and,  meanwhile,  Sir  Charles  Metcalfe  arrived 


on  the  scene. 


■  (  1   j>f^ 


r  '         SIB  CHARLES  METCALFE  AS  GOVERNOR 

The  new  Governor  had  served  his  apprenticeship  in  the 
rule  of  millions  of  men  in  India  and  of  lesser  communities 
in  the  West  Indies.  He  was  a  strong-willed,  self-sustained, 
patriotic,  and  conscientious  man,  devoted  to  the  service  of  his 
Sovereign,  and  with  something  of  an  older-time  spirit  of 
sincerity  and  loyalty.  But  he  was  hopelessly  out  of  touch 
with  democratic  aspirations,  without  sympathy  for  anything 
which  seemed  to  touch,  or  threaten,  any  element  of  the  Royal 
prerogative,  and  was,  naturally,  therefore,  inclined  to  the 
views  of  the  Tory  party.  As  a  Governor  responsible  to  the 
Crown  he  did  his  duty  freely  and  manfully;  as  a  Governor 
responsible  to  the  people  he  failed  entirely.  Yet,  like  so 
many  of  his  predecessors,  he  was  not  greatly  to  blame,  cer- 
tainly not  to  be  condemned  with  that  fierce  and  free  assur- 


STRUGGLES  FOR  RESPONSIBLE  GOVERNMENT       229 


1, 


ance  which  characterizes  the  political  writers  of  that  time,  and 
frequently  of  the  present,  when  commenting  upon  his  char- 
acter and  career.  To  hira  the  Crown  meant  England  and  the 
Empire.  As  a  servant  of  his  country  and  the  Representative 
of  his  Sovereign  duty  lay  to  him  in  what  would  best  conserve 
their  interests ;  and,  like  preceding  Governors,  with  the  pos- 
sible exception  of  Lord  Durham,  he  conceived  those  interests 
and  a  united  future  to  turn  upon  the  maintenance  of  every 
power  of  prerogative  still  held  by  the  Crown. 

In  deliberately  assuming  such  ground  he  was  mistaken 
from  all  the  standpoints  in  the  experience  of  an  after-time, 
but  he  was  neither  unpatriotic,  nor  wicked,  nor  guilty  of 
tyranny,  nor  worthy  of  the  wholesale  abuse  poured  out  by  the 
Liberal  and  Radical  papers  and  politicians  of  the  next  two 
years  upon  his  devoted  head.  There  was  no  doubt  as  to  his 
attitude  and  opinions  from  the  first.  Sir  Charles  arrived  in 
1843,  and  promptly  declared  that  he  intended  to  keep  the 
patronage  in  his  own  hands,  and  to  make  official  appoint- 
ments without  the  advice  of  his  Executive  Council.  Certain 
vacant  positions  he  proceeded  to  fill  at  once,  and  the  Baldwin- 
Lafontaine  Government  immediately  resigned  office.  Mr. 
Draper  reassumed  the  reins,  a  general  election  followed,  and 
the  Governor  and  his  Tory  Council  were  sustained  by  a  fair 
majority.  During  the  ensuing  two  years  a  loud  and  con- 
tinuous discussion  went  on  throughout  the  two  sections  of  the 
Province,  and  much  light  was  thrown  on  the  issue,  despite 
the  virulent  tone  adopted  by  many  of  the  disputants.  Sir 
Charles  Metcalfe,  meantime,  was  raised  to  the  peerage — a 
slight  compensation,  indeed,  for  his  determination  to  do  what 
he  deemed  his  duty  at  all  hazards  and  despite  the  endurance 
of  a  cancer  which  was  eating  into  his  face  and  slowly  but 
surely  destr  >ying  his  life.  He  would  not  accept  the  relief 
of  retirement  and  was  upheld  during  many  months  of  in- 
tense suffering  by  a  belief  that  he  understood  the  situation  in 
Canada  and  was  in  a  position  to  better  maintain  the  authority 
of  the  Crown  than  any  possible  successor.  From  his  point  of 
view  this  was  undoubtedly  a  fact,  and  the  appreciation  and 


2^0 


THE  STORY  OF   THE   DOMINION 


admiration  of  those  opposed  to  responsible  government  wa» 
his  to  the  fullest  degree — including  the  support  of  such  a 
keen  observer  and  slashing  polemist  as  Dr.  Egerton  Ryerson. 

THE  EAEL  OP  ELOIn's  GOVEENOESHIP 

But  there  are  limits  to  human  endurance,  and  toward  the 
close  of  1845  Lord  Metcalfe  returned  home  to  die.  His  suc- 
cessor, for  a  brief  period,  was  Earl  Cathcart,  and  then  in 
1847  came  the  Earl  of  Elgin.  Like  Lord  Durham,  this  really 
great  administrator  possessed  the  rare  faculty  of  grasping  all 
the  threads  of  a  tangled  situation  at  once ;  of  bringing  a  chaos 
of  conflicting  views  and  honest  sentiments  and  almost  pa- 
triotic antagonisms  into  concrete  form  under  the  eye  of 
a  clear  and  impartial  mind.  He  was  able  to  see  that  al- 
though Lafontaine  may  have  played  with  the  burning  brands 
of  sedition  in  its  earlier  stages  and  Baldwin  have  nursed  a 
moderate  sympathy  with  many  of  the  grievances  of  the  rebels, 
yet  they  were  now  men  of  maturity  of  judgment,  honesty  of 
purpose,  and  sincere  loyalty  to  British  connection.  He  was 
able  to  understand  that  while  Draper  was  in  apparently  bitter 
antagonism  to  the  wishes  of  a  somewhat  fluctuating  majority 
of  the  people  and  McNab  an  earnest  and  avowed  opponent  of 
popular  government,  yet  the  one  was  an  honorable,  patriotic, 
and  able  man,  and  the  other  a  citizen  of  whose  sincerity  and 
undoubted  services  the  country  had  every  reason  to  be  proud. 
He  was  able  to  grasp  the  existence  of  a  love  for  liberty  among 
Liberals  which  was  above  and  apart  from  tha  much-feared 
principles  of  American  democracy;  a  love  for  power  among 
the  Tories  which  was  superior  to  and  distinct  from  the  mere 
desire  for  office   and   position. 

Moreover,  the  Liberals  were  again  in  power  in  England 
and  willing  to  risk  a  possible  loss  in  British  prcogative  and 
nominal  power  in  return  for  some  relase  from  burdensome 
responsibility  and  for  a  measure  of  real  peace  in  the  Colo- 
nies. His  instructions  were  therefore  more  elastic,  his  powers 
wider,  and  the  room  for  exercising  natural  ability  and  faculty 
for  statesmanlike  observation  much  greater  than  had  been 


STRUGGLES  FOR  RESPONSIBLE  GOVERNMENT       281 


srs 
3n 


the  case  before.  While  these  facts  stand  to  the  credit  of 
English  Liberalism  at  this  juncture  they  do  not  relieve  it 
from  suspicion  as  to  the  motive  underlying  the  action.  That 
it  turned  out  well  and  promoted  loyalty  while  broadening 
the  bounds  of  liberty  is  true,  but  tliat  it  was  part  of  a 
general  tendency  to  loosen  the  ties  of  Imperial  unity  and 
encourage  the  development  of  Colonial  independence  is  also 
true,  and  is  amply  proved  by  Lord  Elgin's  published  cor- 
respondence during  this  period.* 

It  was  now  the  early  stages  of  the  Manchester  School 
ascendency,  and,  while  good  in  this  particular  instance  carae 
out  of  an  evil  which  would  have  wrecked  the  Empire  in 
its  complete  development,  yet  justice  should  be  done  to  some 
of  the  Tories  who  opposed  responsible  government  in  Eng- 
land because  they  feared  independence  as  well  as  to  the 
Liberals  who  granted  it  because  they  did  not  greatly  dread 
the  possibility  of  independence.  Hitherto  British  politics 
had  only  occasionally  been  exhibited  in  matters  of  Colonial 
administration  and  then  only  in  details.  Upon  the  broad 
principle  of  maintaining  the  Governor's  prerogative  and  re- 
fusing full  responsible  government  Home-parties  had  been 
united.  Now  they  divided,  for  a  time,  only  to  combine  in 
some  twenty  years  of  practical  indifference  to  all  Colonial 
affairs — a  policy  of  letting  the  Colonies  do  much  as  they 
pleased.        *  ;        -    -  ^ 

Lord  Elgin  was  supposed  to  be  a  Conservative  in  politics, 
but  people  had  come  to  discount  any  probabilities  based  upon 
individual  preferences  of  this  nature.  Sir  Francis  Bond 
Head  had  been  heralded  as  an  English  Liberal  and  had 
most  strenuously  supported  the  Canadian  Tories ;  Sir  Charles 
Bagot  was  a  Conservative  but  had  held  the  reins  with  con- 
siderable fairness ;  Lord  Metcalfe  himself  had  been  announced 
as  a  Liberal  in  English  politics.  The  new  Governor-General 
was,  as  a  matter  of  fact,  either  above  these  distinctions  or 
had  made  up  his  mind  to  be  uninfluenced  by  them.    And  he 

*  Walrond's  Life  <ind  Lstters  of  the  Earl  of  Elgin  and  Kincardine. 


282 


TBE   STORY    OF   THE   DOMIMOIS       SiPi'^ 


Hi 


found  one  factor  greatly  in  his  favor.  Preceding  Governors 
had  found  Canadian  aflFairs  a  hopeless  jumble  of  conflicting 
policies  and  ideas  with  only  one  clearly  defined  principle 
visible  upon  the  stormy  surfare — the  Tory  one  of  opposition 
to  democratic  innovation.  The  Liberals  had  not  known  ex- 
actly what  they  wanted,  or  if  they  did,  in  an  occasional  and 
individual  case,  understand  what  was  required  "''d  how  it 
was  to  be  worked  out,  there  was  no  authoritai  medium 
for  its  presentation,  no  clear  summary  of  purpobo  and  plan 
for  popular  approval. 

THE    PRINCIPLES    OF    THE    LIBERAL    PLATFORM 

There  was  now,  however,  a  Liberal  platform  of  the  most 
pronounced  kind.  Its  cardinal  principle  was  that  a  Provin- 
cial Government  should,  in  the  fullest  measure,  be  a  Par- 
liamentary Government,  and  that  no  Ministry  could  or  should 
stay  in  office  after  it  had  lost  the  control  of  the  Assembly. 
If  defeat  came  in  the  House  and  an  appeal  was  made  to  the 
country  its  resignation  could  be  held  over  until  the  result 
of  the  elections  was  known.  Should  that  resu^  ^  adverse 
resignation  must  instantly  follow.     This  involve  change 

of  the  Executive  Council  into  a  departmental  Government, 
such  as  that  of  Great  Britain,  and  a  complete  alteration  in 
the  position  of  the  Governor-General.  Instead  of  being 
merely  the  guardian  of  British  interests,  or  supposed  British 
interests,  in  the  Province,  he  was,  as  the  Queen's  representa- 
tive, to  take  the  Queen's  place  in  the  constitution.  "What 
the  Queen  can  not  do  in  England,"  they  declared,  "the 
Governor  should  not  be  permitted  to  do  in  Canada."  In 
making  Imperial  appointments  the  Crown  is  bound  to  con- 
sult its  advisers;  in  making  Provincial  appointments  the 
Governor  should  be  similarly  bound.  No  Governor  should 
identify  himself  with  any  political  party — and,  it  might  have 
been  fair  to  add,  no  political  party  should  place  itself  in 
open  antagonism  to  the  Governor. 

The  majority  in  the  Assembly,  for  tho  time  being,  they 
considered  to  embody  the  existing  opinion  of  the  country, 


8TRVQQLES  FOR  RESPONSIBLE  OOVERffMENT       288 


I!' 

■1 


and,  provided  such  views  did  not  clash  with  Imperial  in- 
terests, they  should  not  bo  interfered  with  by  the  Governor. 
Local  matters  should  not  be  referred  to  the  Colonial  Office 
for  settlement.  "To  Canadians  alone  must  the  Governor 
look  for  ratification  and  approval  of  his  conduct  i' •  the  man- 
agement of  their  domestic  affairs;  to  the  Imperial  Govern- 
ment alone  he  is  to  render  an  account  of  his  stewardship 
in  the  conservation  of  Imperial  interests."  Such  a  policy 
was  apparently  complete  in  its  parts,  logical  in  its  applica- 
tion* and  lo;yal  in  its  final  statement  that  the  Liberals  of 
Canada  desired  to  maintain  the  Crown,  through  its  Rep- 
resentative in  the  Province,  "as  an  harmonious  component 
of  their  local  constitution."  ^  «  'y'^  -.^mr-H   >  vnui  ^i! 

It  was  the  practical  result  of  three  or  four  decades  of 
groping  in  the  dark  for  a  solution  of  difficulties  which  were 
inevitable,  and  not  in  themselves  disastrous,  and  which  would 
have  naturally  moderated  under  the  influences  of  time  and 
British  progressivcness  without  all  the  turmoil  and  tumult 
which  had  actually  marked  the  process.  It  was  a  policy 
which,  in  its  full  form,  the  Governor-General  could  now 
accept,  and  it  was  the  first  time  that  such  had  really  been 
the  case.  Th  'ry  in  multitudinous  shapes  had  so  far  in- 
fluenced very  la .  'oly  the  Liberal  party ;  they  had  now  united 
logic  with  theory  and  Lord  Elgin  was  able  to  transform  the 
combination  into  practice.  He  did  not  meet  the  problem 
with  any  profound  belief  that  because  a  system  is  old  it  is 
good,  or  because  it  is  new  it  is  better.  Speaking  on  a 
political  platform  at  Southampton  in  1841,  he  had  declared 
himself  a  Conservative  "not  upon  principles  of  exclusionism, 
or  illiberalism  of  sentiment,  but  because  I  believe  that  our 

*  The  one  weakness  in  the  structure  eventually  evolved  under  Lord 
Elgin,  and  acted  upon  up  to  Confederation,  was  the  practical  absence 
of  a  Prime  Minister,  and  the  tendency  of  the  people  to  still  look  to  the 
Governor-General  when  they  should  have  looked  to  the  Ministry  alone. 
Too  much  stress  was  laid  by  agitators  during  all  this  period  upon  the 
attitude  of  the  Grovemor  toward  the  people;  too  little  attention  was 
paid  to  the  position  of  the  people  toward  the  GovGrnor,  It  was  not  till 
the  Dominion  was  created  that  the  v;hecka  and  balances  necessary  to  a 
smoothly  working  constitution  came  into  full  operation. 


T^ 


234 


THE   STORY    OF   THE   DOMINION      iSJlV, 


admirable  constitution  proclaims  between  men  of  all  classes 
and  degrees  in  the  body-politic  a  sacred  bond  of  brother- 
hood in  the  recognition  of  a  common  warfare  here  and  a 
common  hope  hereafter.  I  am  a  Conservative  not  because 
I  am  adverse  to  improvement,  not  because  I  am  unwilling 
to  repair  what  is  wasted,  or  to  supply  what  is  defective  in 
the  political  fabric,  but  because  I  am  satisfied  that  in  order 
to  '.mprove  effectually  you  must  be  resolved  most  religiously 
to  preserve." 

k'^uch  sentiments  of  moderation  should  have  conciliated 
parties  in  Canada,  and  would,  indeed,  have  been  an  excel- 
lent basis  upon  which  to  act  among  themselves.  Though 
he  had  only  served  for  a  time  as  Governor  of  Jamaica,  and 
was  not  at  this  period  a  large  figure  in  politics  or  admin- 
istration at  home,  Lord  Elgin  had  an  undoubted  reputation 
for  ability  and  was  known  to  have  pleased  all  parties  in 
Jamaica — a  very  difficult  task.  Moreover,  he  had  just  been 
married  a  second  time  and  to  no  less  a  personage  than  a 
daughter  of  the  Lord  Durham  whose  memory  was  now  en- 
shrined in  the  heart  of  English-speaking  Liberals  all  over 
British  America.  The  new  Governor  received  a  warm  re- 
ception everywhere,  and  at  Montreal  struck  the  keynote  of 
his  future  administration  by  saying:  "I  am  sensible  that 
I  shall  best  maintain  the  prerogative  of  the  Crown,  and 
most  effectually  carry  out  the  instructions  with  which  Her 
Majesty  has  honored  me,  by  manifesting  a  due  regard  for 
the  wiahes  and  feelings  of  the  people  and  by  seeking  the 
advice  and  assistance  of  those  who  enjoy  their  confidence." 
Lord  Elgin  impressed  himself  favorably  upon  every  one. 
Young  and  energetic,  genial  in  temperament  and  manner, 
dignified  in  bearing,  and,  at  the  same  time,  pleasant  and 
accessible,  he  also  proved  an  admirable  speaker,  and  soon 
won  the  reputation  of  being  the  best  in  the  Province.  Like 
Lord  Dufferin,  in  after  years,  he  could  be  depended  upon 
to  say  in  graceful  and  fitting  words  the  right  thing  in  the 
right  placfc. 


STRUGGLES  FOR  RESPONSIBLE  GOVERNMENT       235 


tiS      I 


FALL   OF   THE   DEAPfiR   MINISTRY 


for 
the 

}7 


The  Draper  Ministry  was  now  tottering  to  its  fall,  and 
the  Tory  pai:/,  as  being  identified  with  a  policy  which  had 
become  one  of  simple  drifting  with  the  tide,  was  like  a  boat 
without  a  rudder.  Mr.  Draper  had  tired  of  a  prolonged 
struggle,  in  which  the  fates  seemed  against  him,  and  wanted 
to  retire  to  the  Bench.  But  there  was  no  one  upon  whom 
the  party  could  unite,  and  there  was  no  policy  other  than 
the  negative  one  of  standing  by  certain  old-fashioned  prin- 
ciples which  the  Imperial  Government  was  said  to  have 
repudiated,  and  which  now  depended^  for  even  temporary 
maintenance,  upon  the  willingness  of  the  Governor-General 
to  occupy  the  same  political  boat  as  the  Executive.  Lord 
Elgin  took  occasion  at  once  to  intimate  that  he  would  do 
nothing  of  the  sort.  So  far  as  he  was  concerned,  parties 
must  sink  or  swim  upon  their  own  ability  to  breast  the  tide 
of  public  opinion.  He  would  give  their  leaders  the  fullest 
freedom  of  action,  and  would  co-operate  cordially  with  the 
successful  party  in  carrying  on  the  local  Government  accord- 
ing to  the  wishes  of  the  majority.  To  Draper  and  McNab 
and  others  this  seemed  a  sheer  abrogation  of  the  functions 
of  an  Imperial  administrator;  a  sacrifice  of  one  of  the  few 
remaining  shreds  of  British  power  over  Provincial  affairs. 
But  to  it  they  had  to  submit.        ,       . 

Lord  Elgin  did  not  act  hastily  or  rashly.  His  Ministry 
had  not  the  confidence  of  the  Assembly,  but  he  saw  that  it 
was  in  process  of  natural  dissolution,  pnd  he  let  things  take 
their  course.  In  May^  1847,  Mr.  Draper  resigned  and  ac- 
cepted a  position  as  Judge  of  the  Court  of  Queen's  Bench 
for  Upper  Canada,  and  nine  years  later  became  Chief  Jus- 
tice of  the  Court  of  Common  Pleas.  He  lived  to  see  the  Do- 
minion an  accomplished  fact  and  the  principles  he  had  so 
strongly  and  conscientiously  opposed  forming  the  keynote 
of  a  national  constitution.  He,  himself,  served  as  President 
of  Ontario's  Court  of  Appeal  for  many  years,  was  the  re- 
cipient of  a  C.   B.   from  the  Queen,   and   died  in   1877, 


286 


THE   STORY   OF    THE   DOMINION 


with  the  highest  possible  reputation  for  judicial  ability,  in- 
dustry, and  stainless  honor.  His  political  successor  for  a 
brief  period  was  Mr.  Henry  Sherwood,  a  Tory  of  the  Tories, 
whose  Ministry  in  its  reconstructed  state  was  chiefly  iiOtablw 
for  the  presence  of  Mr.  John  A.  Macdonald,  who  had  entered 
the  Asbembly  from  Kingston  in  1844,  and  for  the  absence 
of  French-Canadian  representatives  —  only  one  being  ob- 
tainable after  prolonged  negotiations.  The  Tory  party  was 
still,  in  reputation,  the  party  opposed  to  French  influence, 
the  party  of  believers  in  French  disloyalty,  the  party  of 
sympathizers  with  everything  which  would  restrict  French 
development  along  distinct  lines.  The  i^herwood  Ministry 
held  on  to  power  with  the  utmost  persistence.  They  could, 
however,  pass  no  measure  of  value,  were  continually  defeated 
in  the  House,  and  only  managed  to  struggle  through  a  session 
on  that  sufferance  which  feels  that  the  last  stages  of  an  un- 
endurable situation  have  been  reached  and  must  be  settled 
by  a  coming  general  election. 

The  general  position  of  affairs  was  very  gloomy.  The  re- 
peal of  the  Corn-Laws  and  of  the  preferenvial  British  tariff 
had  plunged  the  Province  into  financial  disaster  and  caused 
intense  popular  discontent.  The  feeling  between  French 
and  English  in  Canada  East  was  still  acute.  The  immigra- 
tion of  thousands  of  Irish  paupers,  seeking  escape  from  the 
frightful  famine  of  the  time,  had  cast  upon  Canadian  shores 
a  multitude  of  people  who  arrived  there  simply  to  die  of  the 
shir-fever,  which  had  developed  during  their  voyage,  or  else 
to  throw  themselves  upon  Canadian  charity  and  kindness. 
They  did  not  ask  for  help  in  vain.  At  Quebec,  during  1847, 
over  100,000  persons  landed,  and  of  these  10,000  were  to 
be  found  in  the  hospitals  at  one  time.  Other  places,  such  as 
Montreal  and  Toronto  and  Kingston,  faced  the  same  trouble, 
and  with  the  same  generosity  nursed  the  sick,  succored  the 
starving,  and  cared  for  the  homeless.  In  Montreal,  alone, 
there  were  1,000  orphans  left  destitute  as  a  result  of  this 
appalling  immigration  and  disease.  Sick  and  suffering  peo- 
ple streamed  up  the  St.  Lawrence,  pushed  toward  the  Lakes 


STRUGGLES  FOR  RESPONSIBLE  GOVERNMENT       237 


m- 


igra- 
the 


peo- 
^akes 


in  overcrowded  steamers,  and  burdened  the  inhabitants  of 
the  western  towns  and  villages.  The  response  was  every- 
where the  same,  and  from  the  poor  as  well  as  the  wealthy, 
from  the  Indian  and  the  negro  as  well  as  the  white  man,  re- 
lief poured  in  to  the  Committees  which  were  formed.  Large 
sums  were  ultimately  distributed  in  Ireland  as  well  as  in 
Canada.  Deeds  of  heroism  in  the  hospitals  of  the  time  were 
many — the  heroism  of  nurses  and  clergymen  who  were  will- 
ing to  die,  if  necessary,  in  order  to  nurse  and  minister  to  the 
sick.  More  than  one  Roman  Catholic  ecclesiastic  perished  in 
this  memorable  season  of  suffering  and  self-sacrifice. 

Such  events  could  not  but  react  upon  the  political  situa- 
tion, when  preparations  were  being  made  for  an  electio.  i  which 
was  destined  to  be  of  the  greatest  importance  as  a  historical 
landmark  and  as  finally  decisive  of  a  change  already  impend- 
ing. Lord  Elgin  did  his  best,  in  the  meantime,  to  soothe 
asperities,  and  to  promote  a  good-feeling  which  might  lessen 
the  bitterness  of  the  contest.  He  made  a  tour  of  Canada 
East,  and  won  the  hearts  of  the  people  everywhere  with  his 
silvery  speech  and  pleasing  manner.  Among  the  French 
Canadians  he  carried  everything  before  him  by  speaking  to 
the  habitants  in  their  native  tongue.  Early  in  December, 
184Y,  the  Assembly  was  dissolved,  on  January  24,  1848,  the 
elections  were  held,  and  both  divisions  of  the  Province  swept 
by  the  Liberals.  Parliament  met  in  February,  the  Hon.  A. 
N.  Morin  was  elected  Speaker  of  the  Assembly  over  Sir 
A.  N".  McNab  on  a  party  vote,  the  Government  was  defeated 
on  the  Address  and  promptly  resigned.  A  new  Ministry  was 
at  once  formed,  which  is  notable  not  only  as  being  the  first 
under  the  system  of  actual  responsible  government,  but  as 
containing  many  able  men,  and  as  initiating  the  recognition 
of  an  equal  right  among  French  and  English  representatives 
to  a  place  in  its  composition.  In  accordance,  also,  with  an 
arrangement  which  was  now  to  become  an  unwritten  law, 
there  was  an  Attorney-General  from  Canada  East  and  one 
from  Canada  West,  holding  equal  powers,  and  controlling 
the  political  patronage  and  party  policy  of  their  respective 


288 


THE   STORY   OF   THE   DOMINION 


I  '■'^ 


communities.  One  was  supposed  to  be  Premier,  but  his 
position  was  very  vague,  and  his  actual  superiority  still  more 
80 — a  condition  which  illustrates  the  difficulties  of  the  situa- 
tion, and  the  fact  that  the  English  system  in  its  full  form 
was  not  found  applicable  by  even  the  Liberal  party  in  its  day 
of  power.     The  Government  was  made  up  as  follows : 

CANADA  EAST  OB  LOWER  CANADA 

Hon.  Louis  H.  Lafontaine,  Attorney-General, 
Hon.  Jambs  Lesslie,  President  of  Executive  Council, 
Hon.  R.  E.  Gabon,  Speaker  of  Legislative  Council, 
Hon.  E.  p.  Tache,  Chief  Commissioner  of  Puhlio  Works, 
Hon.  T.  C.  Aylwin,  Solicitor-Oeneral. 

CANADA  WEST  OB  UPPEB  CANADA 

Hon.  Robebt  Baldwin,  Attorney- General,  •r'.^  .   ti;j 

Hon.  R.  B.  Sullivan,  Provincial  Secretary, 

Hon.  Fbancis  Hincks,  Inspector-General, 

Hon.  J.  H.  Pbice,  Commissioner  of  Crown  Lands,  ?' ' 

Hon.  Malcolm  Camebon,  Assistant-Commissioner  of  Puhlio 

Works, 
Hon.  W.  Hume  Blake,  Solicitor-General. 

• 

The  succeeding  session  was  a  short  but  satisfactory  one, 
and  the  storm  of  the  coming  period  was  as  yet  only  a  tiny 
cloud  on  the  horizon.  Lord  Elgin  found  the  new  Govern- 
ment amenable,  conciliatory,  and  far  indeed  from  what  the 
Liberals  were  honestly  believed  to  be  by  the  late  Lord  Met- 
calfe. He  was  not  asked  to  surrender  any  prerogative  of 
importance,  and  his  opinion  upon  appointments  seems  to  have 
been  freely  consulted.  "I  have  tried  both  systems,"  he  wrote 
privately  in  1849.  "In  Jamaica  there  was  no  responsible 
government,  but  I  had  not  half  the  power  I  have  here  with 
my  constitutional  and  changing  Cabinet."  No  doubt  this 
was  somewhat  due  to  his  own  personality,  to  his  kindly  dis- 
position, his  cordial  courtesy,  his  sympathetic  insight  into 
difficulties,  and  a  certain  quality  of  instinctive  statecraft 
which  was  always  at  the  service  of  his  Government,  whether 
Liberal  or  Tory. 

,?  PROGRESS   IN    THE   ATLANTIC    PROVINCES 

Meanwhile,  events  in  the  Maritime  Provinces  had  been 
steadily  developing  toward  the  same  end  of  responsible  govern- 


STRVQQLES  FOR  RESPONSIBLE  GOVERNMENT       239 


ment.  Lord  John  Russell's  despatch  regarding  the  tenure  of 
office  was  regarded  by  the  Liberal  party  in  New  Brunswick 
as  practically  granting  their  demands  and  was  read  by  Sir 
John  Harvey  to  the  Legislature  in  1839  with  an  intimation 
of  his  willingness  to  put  it  in  operation.  But  he  was  per- 
sonally so  popular,  his  administration  so  acceptable,  and  the 
people  were  so  naturally  Conservative  that  it  was  received 
with  indifference  and  the  Assembly  actually  passed  a  Reso- 
lution, by  one  vote,  against  the  establishment  of  a  responsible 
system.  Later  on,  Sir  William  Colebrooke  became  Governor, 
and,  in  the  midst  of  Lord  Metcalfe's  bitter  controversy  with 
the  Liberals  in  Canada,  the  Legislature  still  further  signal- 
ized its  position  by  passing  Resolutions  thanking  the  Gover- 
nor-General for  his  firm  and  vigorous  stand  against  republi- 
canism. But,  by  1848,  the  influence  of  new  developments  in 
Canada  had  proved  too  strong  for  even  New  Brunswick  Con- 
servatism and  its  happy  condition  of  having  little  real  ground 
for  complaint.  A  measure  in  favor  of  responsible  govern- 
ment was  therefore  supported  by  both  parties  and  a  Ministry 
formed  to  which  Lemuel  A.  Wilmot  and  Charles  Fisher,  the 
two  Liberal  leaders,  were  duly  appointed.  This,  however, 
vv^as  a  coalition,  and  it  was  not  till  1854,  after  the  holding 
of  a  general  election,  that  the  Liberals  in  this  Province 
came  into  full  power  and  formed  a  distinctly  responsible 
Ministry. 

In  Nova  Scotia  affairs  were  very  different.  There  was  no 
calm  stream  of  indifferent  progress  toward  an  inevitable  con- 
summation in  its  politics.  The  Governor,  Sir  Colin  Camp- 
bell,* was  a  man  of  military  mind  with  Metcalfe-like  ideas  of 
right  and  wrong  and  with  his  sense  of  duty  to  the  Imperial 
Government  developed  at  the  expense  of  any  duty  he  might 
be  supposed  to  owe  the  people.  He  was,  in  short,  a  Gover- 
nor, and  not  the  head  of  a  distinct  constitutional  system  based 
upon  British  precedent.    As  such,  he  looked  upon  the  Russell 


•  He  was  not  the  famous  Lord  Clyde,  of  Indian  memory,  as  soma 
Canadian  writers  tiave  stated. 


1 


240       rmv  THE  STORY   OF   THE   DOMINION 

despatch  of  1839  as  a  product  of  Home  partisanship  and  as 
apart  altogether  from  his  duty  to  the  Crown.  The  Assembly, 
under  the  influence  of  Howe's  burning  speech  and  sweeping 
invective,  passed  a  strong  Resolution  of  non-confidence  in 
the  Executive,  which  the  Governor  received  with  the  intima- 
tion that  his  advisers  were  quite  acceptable  to  him. 

The  leaders  in  Nova  Scotia  at  this  time  were  brilliant  men 
and  fitted,  many  of  them,  to  adorn  a  wider  and  greater  field 
than  destiny  ever  offered.  Joseph  Howe  was,  of  course,  first 
and  foremost.  None  could  touch  him  in  eloquence,  logic  of 
argument,  force  of  invective,  or  brilliancy  of  rhetoric,  and 
it  is  a  question  if  the  Dominion  has  ever  produced  his  equal 
in  these  respects.  James  Boyle  Uniacke  was  a  strong  man  in 
many  respects,  while  William  Young,  who  lived  to  be  knighted 
by  the  Queen,  and  to  act  for  twenty-one  years  as  Chief  Jus- 
tice of  the  Province,  combined  sound  judgment  with  elo- 
quence of  speech.  The  equal  of  any  of  the  Liberal  leaders 
in  political  ability  and  sincerity,  and  the  superior  of  all 
but  Howe  in  oratorical  power,  was  the  Tory  chief — James 
W.  Johnston.  He  won  elections  in  the  teeth  of  his  rival's 
more  popular  policy  and  always  held  the  respect  and  admira- 
tion of  his  own  party.  Howe's  attacks  upon  the  Lieutenant- 
Governor  at  this  time  were  almost  intolerable.  To  sav  that 
they  were  scathing  and  slashing  is  to  use  a  very  mild  phrase. 
Their  brilliancy  was  only  equaled  by  a  bitterness  which  was 
vitriolic  in  its  intensity  and  which  found  expression  not  only 
in  speech,  but  in  newspaper  articles,  and  in  letters  to  the  Co- 
lonial Secretary  which  are  classics,  as  truly  and  fully  as 
anything  ever  penned  by  Junius,   'i    i    •    f.    r  -  ^  ^ -^n- r    j    v' 

The  inevitable  result  followed.  Sir  Colin  Campbell  was 
recalled  and  Lord  Falkland,  during  the  six  years  beginning 
in  September,  1840,  ruled  in  his  place.  It  was  an  uneasy 
crown  which  he  placed  on  his  head.  The  preliminary  com- 
promise of  appointing  three  Liberal  leaders — Howe,  Uniacke, 
and  McNab — to  seats  in  the  Executive,  without  accepting 
their  principles,  was  foredoomed  to  failure,  and,  after  Howe 
and  Johnston  had  managed  to  mix  oil  and  water  long  enough 


STRUGGLES  FOB  RESPONSIBLE  GOVERNMENT       241 


to  pass  a  much  debated  measure  incorporating  Halifax,  the 
coalition  naturally  dissolved. 

Apart  from  the  general  and  vague  question  of  responsi- 
bility to  the  Assembly  there  were  strong  differences  between 
the  leaders  on  purely  local  issues.  Howe  favored  free  com- 
mon schools  and  one  Provincial  University.  Johnston,  like 
the  Tories  of  all  the  Provinces  in  his  day,  favored  denomi- 
national schools  and  colleges  with  Provincial  grants — in 
brief,  the  union  of  Church  and  State  principle.  In  1844  the 
disruption  had  come.  Falkland  accepted  the  resignation  of 
the  Liberals  and  then  endeavored  to  win  over  the  masses  from 
their  party  allegiance  to  Howe.  It  was  a  not  unnatural  thing 
to  do  at  such  a  juncture,  but  it  onco  more  revived  the  im- 
placable spirit  from  which  his  predecessor  had  suffered  so 
greatly.  Henceforth,  Lord  Falkland  was,  for  the  two  years 
preceding  his  recall,  able  to  fully  comprehend  the  limitless 
possibilities  of  the  English  language  and  the  force  of  Howe's 
keen  and  merciless  invective. 

In  1846  he  was  relieved,  and  the  ever  useful,  genial,  and 
popular  Sir  John  Harvey  was  appointed  to  the  position.  It 
was  not  an  easy  one,  even  for  him,  to  fill.  If  he  publicly  fa- 
vored responsible  government  he  would  be  breaking  one  of  its 
cardinal  principles  by  defying  advisers  who  now  held  a  ma- 
jority in  both  Houses;  if  he  did  not  do  so  all  the  political 
bitterness  of  the  Liberal  leaders  would  be  poured  upon  hira 
as  it  had  been  upon  Campbell  and  Falkland.  He  tried  a  com- 
promise by  inviting  Howe  and  his  associates  to  take  places 
in  the  Council.  But  they  refused,  and,  finally,  a  tacit  com- 
promise was  arrived  at  by  which  all  parties  agreed  to  await 
the  coming  elections.  Late  in  184Y  these  took  place,  and  the 
Liberals  were  victorious  by  a  fair  majority,  Johnston  re- 
signed and  a  Government  was  formed  under  new  conditions 
and  with  the  same  understanding  which  now  prevailed  in  the 
Canadas — that  the  Governor  would  freely  and  fully  accept 
the  responsibility  of  his  Ministers  to  the  Assembly  instead 
of  to  himself.  Howe  was  the  most  prominent  member  of  the 
new  Executive  and  with  him  were  Lawrence  O'Connor  Doyle, 


DOMINION — II 


242 


THE   STORY    OF   THE  DOMINION       ATvi 


Jfl'nes  Boyle  Uniacke,  James  McNab,  Herbert  Huntington, 
George  R.  Young,  and  other  representatives  of  Provincial 
Liberalism  and  of  the  prolonged  struggle  for  responsible 
government. 


CHAPTER  XV 

POLITICAL  REFORMS  AND  GENERAL  PR0GRE88 

GREAT  reforms  and  changes  mark  the  period  from 
1848  to  1866.  Responsible  government  had  not 
worked  as  smoothly  as  its  friends  had  hoped,  and 
in  time  it  developed  conditions  which  created  an  absolute 
deadlock  in  the  functions  of  government  in  the  two  Canadas. 
But  it,  none  the  less,  opened  the  way  for  legislation  of  a 
useful  character,  broadened  the  minds  of  those  public  men 
who  were  able  to  grasp  an  enlarged  though  complicated  situ- 
ation and  presented  opportunities  of  achievement  to  the  mas- 
ter-mind of  Canadian  history — John  A.   Macdonald. 

RACIAL   AND   RELIGIOUS   SENTIMENT 

,}  jV'      ui'--;  .• .  -At  .- 

Although  Lord  Elgin  had  given  his  fullest  confidence  to 
the  new  Baldwin-Lafontaine  Ministry,  and  was  prepared,  and 
able,  to  freely  carry  out  the  principles  of  responsible  govern- 
ment, he  and  they  alike  had  a  most  difficult  task  before  them. 
Feeling  was  still  very  bitter  among  the  French  in  Lower 
Canada  against  everything  that  savored  of  English  domina- 
tion or  Protestant  influence;  the  Liberal  party  of  Upper 
Canada,  or  Canada  West,  was  coming  under  the  influence  of 
George  Brown's  towering  and  aggressive  personality  and  of 
his  bitter  opposition  to  what  he  believed  to  be  the  dangers 
of  French  and  ecclesiastical  domination  in  the  public  life  of 
united  Canada.  And  upon  this  rock  of  conflicting  racial  and 
religious  sentiment  the  strong  Government  of  the  moment  was 
ultimately  to  break  up.  It  had  also  to  face  the  slowly  rising 
influence  and  organizing  force  of  John  A.  Macdonald  among 
the  Conservatives,  as  well  as  the  unifying  party  effect  which 
the  storms  of  the  Rebellion  Losses  Bill  was  destined  to  have. 


POLITICAL  REFORMS  AND  GENERAL  PROGRESS      243 


This  latter  extraordinary  episode  affected  the  Governor- 
General  far  more  than  it  did  his  Ministry.  There  was  still 
no  conception  in  either  party  of  the  fact  that  a  responsible 
Ministry  meant  one  which  was  not  only  responsible  for  the 
distribution  of  places  and  patronage  but  also  for  legislation 
of  every  kind — whether  controlled  by  its  initiative  or  ap- 
proved by  the  Queen's  Representative  upon  its  advice.  Peo- 
ple did  not  seem  to  understand  that  they  had  been  asking  for, 
and  had  now  obtained,  a  condition  of  things  similar  to  that 
in  England,  where  no  party  or  section  dreamed  of  attacking 
the  Crown,  but  assumed  as  a  matter  of  course  that  once  a 
Ministry  was  formed  it  became  responsible  for  the  entire 
policy  of  the  Government. 

."1     " .- ;':        '^r^'.'*.'  -.1-     .    I  :   ■  • 

A    OUEIOUS    SITUATION 

They  still  looked  to  the  Governor-General  to  correct  the 
mistakes,  or  supposed  mistakes,  of  his  own  Cabinet  by  either 
a  veto  or  a  reference  to  England ;  and  this  popular  feeling 
affords  more  excuse  than  perhaps  any  other  fact  for  the  earlier 
and  conscientious  opposition  of  the  Tories  to  the  whole  plan 
of  responsible  government.  But  if,  as  Draper  and  his  asso- 
ciates believed  in  1841,  the  public  neither  understood  nor 
were  prepared  for  the  carrying  out  of  this  policy  what  is  to 
be  said  about  the  situation  in  1848,  when  a  large  section  of 
the  people  of  Montreal  destroyed  the  Parliament  Buildings 
and  a  larger  and  more  politically  mixed  mass  of  people  in 
Upper  Canada  petitioned  the  Crown  to  remove  Lord  Elgin 
for  not  having  refused  the  advice  of  his  responsible  Ministers 
and  repudiated  the  voice  of  a  large  Parliamentary  majority  I 
It  was  a  curious  situation  and  the  details  are  not  the  least 
interesting  in  Canada's  complex  story.    -        ^ 

During  the  preceding  Draper  administration  the  Govern- 
ment had  brought  in  a  measure  and  the  House  had  supported 
it,  giving  a  compensation  of  some  £40,000  to  the  loyal  suf- 
ferers from  the  Rebellion  in  Upper  Canada.  A  demand  for 
similar  treatment  had,  of  course,  been  at  once  received  from 
the  French-Canadian  representatives,  but  was  opposed  by 


I 


244 


THE   STORY    OF   THE   DOMINION 


'■-% 


the  Loyalists  of  Upper  Canada  on  the  ground  that,  practi- 
cally, all  the  people  of  the  Lower  Province  who  had  not  actu- 
ally participated  in  the  insurrection  had  sympathized  with  it. 
In  some  measure,  and  especially  in  connection  with  the  va- 
rious stages  of  the  movement  which  led  up  to  the  Rebellion, 
this  impression  was  probably  correct;  but  so  far  as  a  large 
portion  of  the  people  were  concerned  during  the  actual  risings 
it  was  incorrect.  Still,  the  very  assumption  and  its  expression 
in  Parliament,  shows  the  racial  and  political  tension  which 
existed.  The  Draper  Government,  therefore,  compromised 
matters  for  the  moment  by  appointing  a  Commission  which 
ultimately  reported  that  while  the  claims  in  Lower  Canada 
amounted  to  £250,000,  an  indemnity  of  £100,000  would  prob- 
ably cover  the  actual  losses.  The  Government  awarded  £10,- 
000,  and  in  doing  so  angered  the  French  Canadians  by  its 
utter  disproportion  to  the  amount  of  their  claims  and  its  own 
party  by  the  admission  of  what  they  believed  to  be  a  dan- 
gerous principle. 

THE  REBELLION  LOSSES  BILL 

During  the  two  or  three  years  of  varied  events  which  fol- 
lowed, and  with  a  Government  trembling  in  the  balance,  the 
matter  was  allowed  to  drop.  But  it  was  not  forgotten,  and, 
as  soon  as  the  Lafontaine-Baldwin  Ministry  was  installed 
in  office,  the  agitation  in  French  Canada  began  to  revive.  By 
the  time  the  Legislature  had  met  at  Montreal,  in  1849,  the 
question  had  reached  an  issue  which  demanded  settlement 
and  was  met,  first  by  a  series  of  Resolutions  which  Mr.  Lafon- 
taine  moved  and  rapidly  passed  through  the  Assembly,  and 
then  by  a  Bill  based  upon  the  principles  thus  accepted.  The 
preamble  to  this  measure  for  "the  indemnification  of  parties 
in  Lower  Canada  whose  property  was  destroyed  during  the 
Rebellion  in  the  years  1837  and  1838,"  declared  that  a  mi- 
nute inquiry  should  be  made  regarding  such  losses  and  that 
proven  claims  for  compensation  should  be  paid  and  satisfied. 
It  was  provided  that  none  who  had  been  convicted  of  treason 
during  the  Rebellion,  or  after  being  arrested  had  admitted 


POLITICAL  REFORMS  AND  GENERAL  PROGRESS      246 


ed. 


their  guilt,  or  had  been  included  among  those  transported  to 
Bermuda,  should  be  entitled  to  any  indemnity.  Five  Com- 
missioners were  to  bo  appointed  for  the  carrying  out  of  these 
proposals  and  £100,000  was  appropriated  for  the  compensa- 
tion of  claims. 

The  result  of  the  introduction  of  this  measure  was  a  storm 
which  threatened  to  shake  the  new  system  of  government  to 
its  roots.  The  debates  in  Parliament  were  fierce  beyond  all 
precedent — even  in  the  breezy  days  of  Papincau's  invective 
against  British  domination  and  tyranny.  The  Loyalists,  the 
Tories,  and  even  many  moderate  English-speaking  Liberals 
throughout  the  country,  as  well  as  in  the  Legislature,  de- 
nounced the  measure  as  an  attempt  to  reward  rebellion,  to 
indemnify  treason,  to  approve  sedition.  It  was  a  rebel  Gov- 
ernment patting  rebellion  on  the  back.  It  was  a  case  of  men 
who  had  participated  in,  or  had  approved  of,  the  insurrection 
making  an  effort  to  express  their  sympathy  by  voting  public 
money  to  their  friends.  It  was  the  bribe  offered  by  Baldwin 
for  the  present  help  and  co-operation  of  Lafontaine  and  the 
French-Canadian  members.  These  are  strong  words,  but 
they  only  faintly  indicate  the  utterances  of  the  exasperated 
Loyalists  led  by  Sir  Allan  McNab,  Mr.  Sherwood,  the  vet- 
eran Colonel  Prince,  and  others  who  had  proved  their  feel- 
ings in  the  field  against  the  very  rebellion  which  was  thus 
being  condoned. 

It  is  not  difficult  at  this  distance  of  time  to  sympathize 
with  the  bitterness  of  the  Tory  view  while  approving  the  gen- 
eral policy  of  the  Government  and  deprecating  what  followed. 
To  the  former  there  was  no  justification  whatever  for  the 
risings  of  1837-38.  A  rebel  was  a  criminal  who  deserved 
only  punishment.  Loyalty  to  the  Crown,  which  was  the 
pivotal  point  of  all  their  policy,  was  utterly  incompatible 
with  sympathy  for  sedition  of  any  kind,  especially  for  that 
which  had  prevailed  in  the  two  Canadas.  And  it  soon  be- 
came evident  from  the  speeches  of  the  Government  leaders 
that  there  was  no  intention  of  discriminating  in  the  payments 
between  those  who  had  risen  and  those  who  had  been  loyal, 


246 


THE   STORY   OF   THE   DOMINION 


except  in  the  extremely  limited  cases  of  conviction  or  ban- 
ishment to  Bermuda.  The  position  of  the  Government  had 
some  elements  of  reason  and  strength  in  this  regard.  An 
Act  of  Amnesty  had  been  proclaimed,  and,  therefore,  Mr. 
Baldwin  said,  it  would  be  disrespectful  to  the  Queen  to  in- 
quire what  part  a  man  had  taken  during  the  preceding 
troubles.  The  Amnesty  obliterated  what  had  previously  oc- 
curred. Mr.  Merritt  exprebsed  the  belief  that  all  were  now 
good  and  loyal  subjects,  an  \  that  no  delicate  distinctions 
regarding  the  past  should  be  dra^vn.  Mr.  Drummond,  with 
legal  precision,  stated  that  imder  an  Amnesty  Act  the  par- 
doned were  in  the  same  position  as  they  had  been  before  the 
offence  was  committed.  More  to  the  point  was  Mr.  Hincks'a 
statement  that  it  would  be  impossible  to  ^^crmit  any  set  of 
Commissioners  to  "arbitrarily  decide  that  men  were  rebels 
who  had  never  been  convicted  of  high  treason."    v-  • 

It  is  not  necessary  to  follow  the  stormy  passage  of  the 
measure  through  the  Legislature.  On  the  9th  of  March  it 
passed  the  third  and  final  reading  in  the  Assembly  by  forty- 
seven  to  eighteen  votes.  In  the  Legislative  Council  the  third 
reading  was  passed  a  week  later  by  twenty  to  fourteen. 
Meanwhile,  Tory  petitions  against  it  were  pouring  in  from 
all  parts  of  the  country  to  the  Governor-General,  and  he  now 
became  the  central  figure  of  one  of  the  fiercest  demonstrations 
of  feeling  in  Canadian  history.  His  position  was  a  very 
difficult  one.  The  Government  had  a  large  majority  in  both 
Houses,  and  were  only  fifteen  months  from  an  appeal  to  the 
people  in  which  they  had  obtained  this  majority.  To  veto 
the  measure  was  impossible  under  those  principles  of  respon- 
sible government  which  he  had  recognized  and  resolved  to 
apply;  to  refer  it  to  the  Home  Governme'  ^)ly  a 

cowardly  method  of  relieving  his  own  ghf  a  re- 

sponsibility which  it  was  his  duty  l        ...  of        eoting 

the  wrath  of  whichever  party  lost,  i  ihe  ro  .encc,  against 
the  Crown.  To  dissolve  Parliament  was  •  precipitate  an 
issue  at  the  polls  which,  in  the  inflamed  staij;  of  public  opin- 
ion, could  hardly  be  settled  by  a  mere  vote,  and,  if  it  were 


POLITICAL  REFORMS  AND  GENERAL  PROGRESS      247 


a  re- 

rainst 

ite  an 

opin- 

were 


80  disposed  of  without  actual  violence,  would  in  all  probabil- 
ity only  prolong  the  trouble  without  changing  the  result.  He 
determined,  therefore,  with  a  patriotism  which  deserves  the 
appreciation  of  every  Canadian  in  more  sober  days,  to  as- 
sume the  full  resiwnsibility  of  action  and  of  his  assent  to 
the  Bill.  ''Whatever  mischief  ensues,"  he  wrote  to  the  Colo- 
nial Secretary,  "may  probably  be  repaired,  if  the  worst  comes 
to  the  worst,  by  the  sacrifice  of  me."  ., 

On  the  25th  of  April,  Lord  Elgin  drove  to  the  Parliament 
House  in  Montreal  and  publicly  assented  to  the  measure  in 
the  Queen's  name.  The  news  flew  like  wildfire  through  the 
city,  and  the  once  popular  Governor  drove  away  from  the 
House  amid  a  storm  of  insults  and  showers  of  missiles.  A 
few  hours  passed,  the  excitement  increased,  the  mob  became 
larger  and  larger,  and  finally  uncontrollable.  There  were 
well-dressed  men  in  its  ranks,  and  many  known  to  be  Tories 
among  its  leaders.  No  doubt  also  there  was  a  large  riff-raff 
element  common  to  such  occasions,  and,  probably,  many 
French  and  Irish  of  the  lower  classes  who  cared  nothing 
about  the  issue,  and  only  loved  a  riot.  However,  the  mob 
invaded  the  Parliament  Buildings,  and,  finally,  in  a  moment 
of  impulse,  set  them  on  fire.  The  damage  done  was  irrepara- 
ble. Not  only  were  the  buildings  destroyed,  but  all  the 
public  records  of  Upper  and  Lower  Canada  before  the  Union 
were  burned.  Not  only  was  the  reputation  of  Montreal  af- 
fected, but  its  position  as  the  seat  of  Government  was  ren- 
dered a  future  impossibility.  Not  only  was  the  Tory  party 
disgraced  by  its  participation  in  the  riot,  but  it  soon  became 
entirely  responsible  for  it  in  the  public  mind,  and  suffered 
corresponding  injury.  The  seal  was  really  set  to  the  chances 
of  Tory  success  against  Lord  Elgin,  at  this  juncture,  by  the 
burning  of  the  buildings  and  by  the  further  riot  which  fol- 
lowed the  Governor-General's  visit  to  the  city  a  few  days 
later. 

Protests,  meanwhile,  poured  into  the  Colonial  Office 
at  London  against  Lord  Elgin's  action  in  accepting  the 
Bill;  though  still  more  numerous  were  the  addresses  show- 


1 


248 


THE   STORY   OF   THE   DOMINION  VTlLinn 


ered  upon  him,  personally,  from  every  part  of  the  country, 
and  expressing  admiration  for  his  magnanimity  toward  the 
rioters  and  his  determination  to  uphold  at  all  cost  the  prin- 
ciples of  responsible  government.  He  was  ultimately  main- 
tained in  his  position  and  his  policy  approved  by  the  Colonial 
Office.  Parliament  met  no  more  at  Montreal.  During  the 
next  decade  it  sat  alternately  at  Toronto  and  Quebec — 
until  Bytown  had  been  changed  from  a  little  lumbering 
village  on  the  banks  of  the  Ottawa,  by  the  magic  of  the 
Queen's  choice,  into  the  capital  of  Ler  Canadian  Province. 
In  1860,  the  Prince  of  Wales,  during  his  visit  to  Canada, 
laid  the  corner-stone  of  the  Parliament  Buildings  which 
were  to  do  honor  to  the  future  Dominion  and  to  mark  the 
evolution  of  a  village  into  the  City  of  Ottawa. 

The  year  1849  saw  more  than  the  riots  at  Montreal. 
Over  Canada  hung  the  clouds  of  intense  commercial  de- 
pression. To  the  Tories  it  seemed  as  if  Great  Britain  had 
throAvn  them  to  the  wolves  of  want  by  her  sudden  free-trade 
arrangements,  while  at  the  same  time  she  had  sacrificed 
their  loyalty  upon  a  shrine  of  rebellion  through  the  action 
of  Lord  Elgin.  The  result  of  their  dissatisfaction,  and  of 
the  still  seething  discontent  among  French  Canadians,  was 
the  birth  of  an  Annexation  movement;  the  holding  of  a 
mass-meeting  in  Montreal  to  further  that  end;  the  issue 
of  a  Manifesto  which  is  of  great  historic  interest  because 
of  its  rash  signature  by  such  men  of  the  future  as  Sir  A.  A. 
Dorion,  Sir  A.  T.  Gait,  Sir  D.  L.  Macpherson,  Sir  John 
Abbott,  and  the  leading  financial  magnates  of  the  city.  It 
was  a  mere  flash  in  the  pan,  but  it  none  the  less  marked  the 
miserable  condition  of  the  country  at  this  period  of  com- 
mercial disaster  and  political  riot.  More  important,  because 
more  lasting  in  its  effects,  was  the  formation  of  the  British- 
American  League,  with  a  platform  of  federal  union  among 
the  Provinces  and  of  protection  in  tariff  matters.  It  was 
largely  the  product  of  John  A.  Macdonald's  skilful  hand 
and  of  his  leadership  of  a  number  of  young  men  who  were 
growing  in  personal  ambition  and  in  public  attention.    From 


i 


POLITICAL  REFORMS  AND  GENERAL  PROGRESS      249 


this  time  until  its  final  fruition  the  idea  of  federation  never 
disappeared  entirely  from  the  field  of  Canadian  politics,  al- 
though its  progress  was  often  hampered  and  its  position  for 
years  was  more  visionary  than  practical  in  appearance. 

THE   PERIOD   OF   RAILWAY   DEVELOPMENT 

Meanwhile  the  period  of  railway  development  was  loom- 
ing upon  the  horizon.  The  fertile  brain  of  Lord  Durham 
had  suggested  an  inter-colonial  railway  to  unite  the  Canadas 
with  the  Maritime  Provinces,  and  the  ready  mind  of  Joseph 
Howe  had  early  seen  its  desirability.  Effort  after  effort  was 
made  between  1850  and  the  time  of  Confederation  to  get 
this  line  built.  Lord  Elgin  did  what  he  could  to  support 
the  idea.  Howe,  in  Nova  Scotia,  Edward  Barron  Chandler, 
in  New  Brunswick,  and  Francis  Hincks,  in  Canada,  did  their 
best  to  further  it.  Negotiations  were  entered  into  with  the 
Colonial  Of^ce,  Howe  went  to  England  and  stormed  the 
ramparts  of  officialdom,  meetings  were  held  at  Toronto  and 
elsewhere  of  inter-Provincial  delegates,  but  the  project  ul- 
timately fell  through.  Upon  its  ruins  came  the  European 
and  North  American  Line  in  New  Brunswick  and  the  Grand 
Trunk  in  Canada;  and  not  till  after  Confederation  was  the 
riginal  plan  taken  up  and  carried  to  completion. 

The  history  of  the  Grand  Trunk  is  an  extraordinary  one. 
It  was  the  product  of  a  railway  era,  the  record  of  which  is 
marked  by  all  the  evils  of  rash  investment,  wild  extrava- 
gance, huge  profits,  great  losses,  and  frequent  ruin.  Lesser 
lines  sprang  up  like  mushrooms  in  every  direction;  the  Leg- 
islature gave  grants  to  all  kinds  of  projectors  and  projects; 
the  Municipal  Loan  Fund  was  created  and  local  bodies  em- 
powered to  help  railways — which  they  did  to  the  tune  of 
millions.  In  1852  the  Grand  Trunk  Line,  connecting  the 
waters  of  Lake  Huron  with  those  of  the  St.  Lawrence,  was 
commenced,  and,  in  1860,  the  costly  Victoria  Bridge,  in 
practical  completion  of  its  Canadian  system,  was  opened  by 
the  Prince  of  Wales,  The  promoters  of  the  railway  included 
many   members  of  the   Government — John  Ross,   Francis 


'l 


250 


THE  STORY   OF   THE   DOMINION 


Hincks,  E.  P.  Tache,  James  Morris,  Malcolm  Cameron,  and 
R.  E.  Caron — the  President  of  the  Bank  of  Montreal  and 
others,  and  the  bonds  were  floated  in  England  without  much 
difficulty.  Mr.  Hincks  was  the  leader  in  the  movement,  and 
in  the  varied  financial  difficulties  which  followed  he  holds  a 
prominent  place. 

The  evils  of  the  situation  which  developed  out  of  this 
and  similar  enterprises  are  well  known  and  reflected  seri- 
ously for  many  years  upon  the  credit  of  the  Dominion. 
Confident  in  the  appearance  of  so  many  representative  Cana- 
dians in  the  Grand  Trunk  Prospectus  money  was  -reely 
invested  by  the  English  people  under  the  impression  that 
it  was  more  or  less  a  Government  project.  The  arrange- 
ment by  which  the  great  firm  of  Peto,  Brassey  &  Betts 
undertook  its  construction  did  not  destroy  an  impression 
which  seems  to  have  been  based  upon  nothing  more  than 
the  appearance  of  certain  names  upon  the  Directorate  and 
to  have  survived  the  repeated  refusals  of  the  Canadian  Gov- 
ernment to  identify  themselves  with  its  later  complications. 
Twenty  years  after  this  period,  however,  the  London  "Times" 
(April  15,  1875)  declared  that  £30,000,000  had  been  spent 
upon  the  Grand  Trunk.  Of  this  five-'sixths  was  English 
money  and  only  £10,000,000  of  it  was  yielding  any  return. 
Eight  million  pounds  sterling  had  gone  into  the  Great  West- 
ern and  only  £3,000,000  of  that  amount  was  paying  any  in- 
terest; while  the  Canada  Southern,  the  Midland,  the  Pres- 
cott  and  Ottawa,  and  other  lines  since  amalgamated  with  the 
Grand  Trunk  and  built  mainly  with  British  capital,  were 
mere  financial  wreckage.  The  whole  episode  is,  in  fact,  an 
unpleasant  one.  It  hurt  Canadian  credit  for  many  long 
years  and  the  free  expenditure  of  money  at  the  time  pro- 
duced a  political  corruption  which  was  even  more  injurious. 
__Yet  the  promoters  do  not  deserve  blame.  Mr.  Hincks 
and  his  associates  did  their  best  to  develop  the  country  by 
the  creation  of  necessary  lines  of  communication  and  their 
policy  undoubtedly  had  a  great  influence  for  good  in  that 
connection.     That  the  contractors  did  not  understand  the 


m 


POLITICAL  REFORMS  AND  GENERAL  PROGRESS      251 


-,>> 


fO- 
IS. 

ks 

by 


he 


conditions  of  construction  in  a  new  region ;  that  the  railway 
managers  were  extravagant  in  expenses  and  salaries;  that 
political  influences  caused  the  building  of  competitive  lines 
where  there  was  no  room  for  them;  that  the  waterways  of 
Canada  proved  great  rivals  to  the  new  railways,  were  all 
matters  hardly  under  the  control  of  the  politicians  who 
pioneered  the  railway  system  of  Canada.  ' 

TWO  GREAT  QUESTIONS  SETTLED 

Meanwhile,  two  great  political  questions  had  been  set- 
tled— the  Clergy  Keserves  in  Upper  Canada  and  the  Seign- 
eurial  Tenure  in  the  Lower  Province.  The  settlement  could 
not  come  while  the  Ministry  of  Lafontaine  and  Baldwin  re- 
mained in  power.  Mr.  Lafontaine,  though  a  Liberal  in 
politics  and  at  one  time  a  rebel  sympathizer,  had  grown  more 
moderate  in  his  views  as  he  grew  older  and  more  willing  to 
see  the  best  in  everything  rather  than  the  worst.  His  repu- 
tation for  pronounced  common-sense  and  for  personal  honor 
and  integrity,  as  well  as  a  knowledge  of  his  respect  for 
vested  rights,  had  yearly  grown  stronger  as  the  storms  of 
1849  passed  from  public  memory.  He  favored  the  reten- 
tion of  Seigneurial  privileges  in  Lower  Canada  for  reasons 
which  it  is  not  difficult  to  estimate  and  among  which  the 
desire  to  maintain  the  beneficial  influence  of  the  French- 
Canadian  gentry  over  a  more  or  less  ignorant  peasantry  was 
not  the  least.  He  had  no  sympathy  with  demagogues  and 
he  had  proved  his  faith  in  the  people  upon  important  issues 
and  his  belief  in  moderate  Liberalism  by  the  general  policy 
of  his  Government.  But  he  thought  it  was  now  time  to 
rest  for  a  while. 

Mr.  Baldwin's  position  was  one  of  sympathy  with  the  view 
of  those  who  disapproved  of  the  Reserves;  but  he  did  not 
go  to  the  extreme  of  the  agitators  who  could  see  nothing 
except  that  question  upon  the  horizon  and  nothing  to  do  in 
Canada  until  it  was  disposed  of  to  their  liking.  He  was 
inclined  to  let  the  matter  drift  and  to  join  his  colleagues  in. 
legislation  along  other  and  practical  lines.    The  Government 


262 


THE  STORY  OF  TFE  DOMINION 


had  done  a  great  deal  for  the  Province  during  these  years 
in  useful  work  and  actual  achievement.  They  thoroughly 
reformed  the  Municipal  system,  which  had  been  in  a  most 
chaotic  condition;  passed  new  laws  regarding  elections,  edu- 
cation,  and  assessments ;  established  Provincial  credit  abroad ; 
obtained  complete  control  from  the  Imperial  Government 
over  the  Provincial  Post-Office  and  established  cheap  and 
uniform  rates  of  postage;  reformed  and  remodeled  the 
Courts  of  Justice  in  both  sections  of  the  Province ;  amended 
the  exclusive  and  ecclesiastical  charter  of  King's  College, 
and  organized  the  University  of  Toronto  in  its  place  upon 
a  non-sectarian  basis;  abolished  the  principle  of  primogeni- 
ture in  Upper  Canada  as  applied  to  real  estate,  and  inaugu- 
rated much  important  railway  legislation.  This  is  a  splendid 
record  of  work  for  three  years  of  power.  Then,  in  October, 
1851,  came  the  retirement  of  Mr.  Lafontaine,  speedily  fol- 
lowed by  that  of  Mr.  Baldwin.  The  former  became  Chief 
Justice  of  Lower  Canada  and  was  created  a  baronet  in  1854; 
the  latter  retired  into  private  life,  refused  a  seat  on  the 
Bench  and  eventually  accepted  the  honor  of  a  C.  B.  from 
the  Crown. 

The  Liberal  Ministry  was  reorganized  under  Mr.  A.  N. 
Morin  from  Canada  East  and  Mr.  Francis  Hincks  from 
the  West.  The  latter  was  one  of  the  shrewdest  men  who 
have  participated  in  the  public  life  of  Canada  and  naturally 
dominated  the  new  Government  in  person  and  policy,  al- 
though his  chief  colleague  did  not  lack  ability  and  cer- 
tainly possessed  wide  popularity  in  Lower  Canada.  During 
the  three  following  years  the  railway  questions  were  more 
prominent  than  any  other,  although  from  time  to  time  the 
Seigneurial  Tenure  and  Clergy  Reserves  problems  forced 
themselves  upon  political  attention.  The  two  latter  were 
now,  however,  i^  be  disposed  of  through  the  personal  in- 
fluence and  policy  of  Mr.  John  A.  Macdonald,  His  rise 
during  'jroceding  years  had  been  slow  and  steady.  He  had 
nc«  pressed  any  burning  question  upon  the  Province  or 
identified  himself  with  any  racial  or  religious  issue;   but 


'1 


POLITICAL  REFORMS  AND  GENERAL  PROGRESS      253 


had  quietly  grown  into  the  confidence  of  his  party  chiefs 
and  into  the  practical  leadership  of  his  party.  Tact  and 
conciliation  were  the  principal  qualities  marking  this  prog- 
ress. He  seems  to  have  seen  clearly  that  the  Toryism  of 
Robinson,  Draper,  and  McNab  was  not  suited  to  the  new 
conditions  of  the  time;  that  no  successful  party  could  be 
built  upon  such  racial  issues  as  the  Rebellion  Losses  Bill, 
or  upon  such  historical  incidents  as  the  Rebellion  itself; 
that  Sir  Allan  McNab,  brave  old  political  warrior  and  chiv- 
alrous character  as  he  was,  could  not  possibly  adapt  himself 
to  the  new  era  of  responsible  and  popular  government ;  that 
the  Tory  party,  if  it  were  to  live,  must  cease  to  be  an  or- 
ganized negation  and  must  assimilate  outside  elements  while 
developing  a  creative  policy  of  moderate  reform. 
'  He  was  greatly  helped  in  this  effort  to  evolve  a  new  party 
by  the  policy  of  his  vigorous  and  able  opponent — Mr.  George 
Brown.  The  latter  is  perhaps  the  most  forcible  and  strenu- 
ous character  in  Canadian  annals.  Conscientious  and  sincere 
in  the  extreme,  he  was  at  the  same  time  lacking  in  tact  and 
in  a  wide  view  of  public  questions.  Profound  convictions, 
while  always  commanding  respect,  are  sometimes  apt  to  verge 
upon  intolerance;  and  it  was  this  imperious  manner  and 
dominating  will  which  were  at  once  the  strong  and  the  weak 
points  in  George  Brown's  great  personality.  As  a  virile 
journalist  and  head  of  the  Toronto  "Globe"  he  was  natu- 
rally a  power  in  the  Province ;  as  head  of  an  uncompromising 
following  in  the  Legislature  during  many  years  he  was  also 
a  power  in  politics.  But  his  influence  was  weakened  by  the 
limitations  of  his  point  of  view.  To  him  Upper  Canada  was 
everything,  the  United  Province  nothing  in  comparison. 

Upper  Canada  was  Protestant  in  religious  belief,  and,  there- 
fore, Protestant  interests  must  be  dominant  in  the  politics 
and  legislation  of  the  Province.  Upper  Canada  was  English, 
and,  therefore,  English  interests  as  opposed  to  French  must 
be  uppermost  in  public  administration.  Under  the  Union 
Act  the  basis  of  representation  had  been  arranged  upon  an 
estimated  equality  of  population  in  the  two  Canadas,  although 


T 


254 


THE  STORY   OF   THE  DOMINION 


Lower  Canada  was  then  much  more  populous  than  the  Upper 
Province.  Now  that  the  position  had  been  reversed,  repre- 
sentation by  population  became  his  policy,  and  the  very  nat- 
ural French-Canadian  opposition  to  it  was  denounced  as 
French  and  Catholic  domination.  His  wing  of  the  Liberal 
party  became  known  as  the  "Clear  Grit"  party,  and,  as  the 
years  passed  on,  it  played  steadily  into  the  hands  of  the  new 
Toryism  which  was  becoming  known  as  Conservatism,  while, 
at  the  same  time,  it  worked  havoe  in  the  French  and  Liberal 
alliance.  By  1854,  it  had  helped  to  disgust  Baldwin  and  La- 
fontaine  with  politics,  had  aided  in  defeating  their  succes- 
sors in  office,  and  had  driven  many  of  the  modeiate  Liberals 
of  Upper  Canada,  or  Baldwin  Reformers,  as  they  were  called, 
into  the  Conservative  ranks.  t 

The  result  of  all  these  developments  was  the  formation  of 
a  so-called  coalition  Government  in  September,  1854,  with 
Sir  Allan  McNab,  the  Tory  leader,  as  Premier,  the  Hon.  A. 
!N.  Morin,  the  late  Liberal  leader  in  Lower  Canada,  as  At- 
torney-General East,  and  the  Hon.  John  A.  Macdonald  in  the 
same  position  for  the  West.  It  is  not  hard  to  understand  who 
was  the  real  head  of  this  Ministry.  Like  all  Mr.  Macdonald's 
coalitions,  it  was  really  an  assimilation  of  lesser  men  into  his 
own  party  for  the  purpose  of  carrying  out  his  own  views. 
The  first  indication  of  the  change  in  party  conditions  was  the 
secularization  of  the  Clergy  Reserves.  The  question  had 
gone  through  various  phases  since  Sir  John  Colborne  had 
stirred  up  such  bitter  Radical  dissatisfaction  by  his  endow- 
ment of  forty-four  Rectories  in  Upper  Canada  in  1836.  By 
an  Imperial  Act  passed  in  1840,  the  new  Government  of  the 
United  Province  was  given  power  to  deal  with  the  proceeds 
of  the  sales  which  had  already  taken  place  of  land  belonging 
to  the  Reserves,  and  to  hand  over  two-thirds  of  the  money  to 
the  Church  of  England  and  the  other  third  to  the  Church  of 
Scotland  in  Canada.  The  unappropriated  lands,  amounting 
to  1,800,000  acres,  were  also  to  be  sold,  and,  of  the  proceeds, 
one-half  was  given  to  the  Churches  of  England  and  Scotland 
in  the  above  proportions  and  the  remaining  half  devoted  to 


1 


J 


POLITICAL  REFORMS  AND  GENERAL  PROGRESS      255 


purposes  of  general  public  worship  and  religious  education. 
This  compromise  had  been  welcomed  at  the  time,  and  Lord 
Sydenham,  whose  child  it  really  was,  had  congratulated  him- 
self upon  the  settlement  of  a  question  which  had  greatly 
complicated  the  troubles  of  the  time. 

But  the  problem  would  not  down  so  long  as  there  was  an 
agitator  in  the  Province  who  could  make  political  capital  out 
of  a  semi-religious  issue,  or  out  of  the  restless  spirit  of  a 
democratic  population  which  could  not  endure  the  expendi- 
ture of  public  moneys  for  any  religious  purpose  whatever. 
For  eight  years  following  the  revival  of  the  question,  in  1846, 
it  took  the  form  of  an  agitation  for  complete  secularization 
and  contributed  to  the  downfall  of  Governments,  the  sub- 
division of  parties,  the  intensifying  of  public  strife.  Finally, 
on  May  9,  1853,  the  Imperial  Parliament  passed  an  Act 
transferring  the  control  of  the  matter  to  the  Provincial  Leg- 
islature, and,  on  the  17th  of  October,  1854,  Mr.  Macdonald 
moved  a  measure  of  general  secularization.  The  Rectories 
already  established  were  not  to  be  interfered  with,  and  cer- 
tain provisions  were  made  for  the  widows  and  orphans  of  the 
clergy.  The  balance  of  the  Reserves,  as  they  should  be  sold, 
were  to  be  divided  among  the  townships  in  which  they  were 
situated  upon  a  population  basis  and  for  purposes  of  educa- 
tion and  local  improvement.  '^  '^*^ 

At  the  same  time  that  this  measure  was  passing  throng?  ""he 
Assembly  a  Bill  had  been  introduced  by  Mr.  L.  T.  Drum- 
mond  abolishing  the  Seigneurial  Tenure  in  Lower  Canada. 
No  man  in  the  Legislature  was  so  well-fitted  to  deal  with  this 
important  matter  as  the  Attorney-General,  East.  He  was  a 
politician  who  occupies  a  large  and  yet  obscure  place  in 
Canadian  history.  His  abilities  were  v- ry  great,  his  popu- 
larity in  Lower  Canada  among  both  French  and  English 
most  pronounced  and  in  those  days  unusual,  while  his  elo- 
quence was  much  more  effective  than  that  of  many  who  oc- 
cupy more  prominent  places  in  the  popular  mind.  He  had 
been  eminent;  at  the  Bar  and  he  lived  to  be  eminent  on  the 
Bench.    His  speech  upon  the  proposed  abolition  of  an  old-time 


256 


THE   STORY    OF    THE    DOMINION 


system,  which,  without  being  as  useless  or  as  injurious  as  its 
critics  maintained,  had  yet  fully  outlived  its  value,  was 
worthy  of  the  occasion.  The  measure,  which  passed  both 
Houses  by  good  majorities,  provided  for  the  clearing  away  of 
all  feudal  privileges,  rights,  and  dues  in  Lower  Canada,  for 
freedom  of  contract  in  land  and  labor  to  Seigneur  and  cen- 
citaire  (or  peasant),  and  for  compensation  to  the  former  in 
the  case  of  all  vested  rights  acquired  by  custom  and  the  lapse 
of  time. 

A  tribunal  was  appointed  to  settle  questions  which  might 
arisfl  out  of  the  legislation  and  to  distribute  a  Seigneurial  in- 
demnity which  ultimately  amounted  to  £650,000.  This  was 
the  end  of  two  questions  which  had  destroyed  the  peace  of 
politicians  and  the  harmony  of  parties  and  increased  the 
bitterness  of  controversies,  already  violent  enough,  during 
many  years.  The  end  was  bound  to  come  and  the  willingness 
of  John  A.  Macdonald  to  meet  the  inevitable  is  creditable 
to  his  sagacity  and  hardly  a  reflection  upon  his  consistency. 
He  never  affected  to  be  a  Tory  of  the  Sherwood  or  Strachan 
type  and  could  certainly  have  never  achieved  the  great  re- 
sults of  his  career  had  he  been  so.  They  filled  their  niche  in 
public  life  and  national  history;  he  lived  in  different  times 
and  adapted  himself  to  the  new  conditions — as  Disraeli  was 
then  beginning  to  do  in  England  with  the  Tory  party  of  his 
early  days. 

.    .     >       ,.  POLITICAL    AND    PERSONAL    CHANGES 

The  next  few  years  were  chiefly  marked  by  the  personal 
struggle  for  supremacy  between  Macdonald  and  Brown,  with 
an  ever-increasing  accession  of  strength  to  the  former;  and 
by  complications  rising  out  of  the  racial  and  religious  rival- 
ries of  the  time.  The  McNab-Morin  Government,  which  was 
formed  in  1854  upon  the  ruins  of  the  Hincks-Morin  admin- 
istration, lasted  for  two  years  and  was  then  reorganized  for  a 
7ear  into  the  Tache-Macdonald  Ministry.  From  1355  Mr. 
George  E.  Cartier  was  a  member  of  the  Government.  He 
had  been  steadily  coming  to  the  front  in  Lower  Canada  and 


POLITICAL  REFORMS  AND  GENERAL  PROGRESS      25T 


had  joined  Mr.  Macdonald  in  an  alliance  which  was  destined 
to  last  for  a  quarter  of  a  century  and  to  contribute  greatly  to 
the  success  of  the  Conservative  leader's  plans.  Like  Lafon- 
taine,  he  had  been  a  rebel  sympathizer  in  his  youth,  and,  like 
him,  also,  had  mellowed  into  a  moderate  Conservative  with 
strong  British  leanings.  The  only  difference  was  that  the  one 
refused  to  change  his  designation  of  Liberal,  the  other  pub- 
licly accepted  the  new  principles  which  the  name  of  Conserva- 
tive carried  with  it.  Persevering  and  energetic  in  character, 
exhaustive  and  convincing,  though  not  eloquent  in  speech; 
with  the  qualities  of  a  statesman  rather  than  a  mere  politician, 
Sir  George  Cartier  became  in  time  the  chosen  and  powerful 
leader  of  his  race. 

Personal  changes  in  the  decade  between  1854  and  1864 
form  the  chief  incidents  of  its  political  history.  Sir  Allan 
McNab  retired  in  1856  from  a  party  leadership  which  ill- 
health  and  new  conditions  had  rendered  impossible ;  the  Hon. 
L.  T.  Drummond  disappeared  from  public  life  as  a  result  of 
coming  into  conflict  with  Mr.  Macdonald's  ambitions;  John 
Sandfield  Macdonald  rose  into  prominence  as  a  somewhat  er- 
ratic Liberal  leader  in  the  Upper  part  of  the  Province  and 
Antoine  iiime  Dorion  replaced  Lafontaine  in  the  French 
leadership  of  the  same  party.  The  Governor-General,  who 
had  so  greatly  endeared  himself  to  all  classes  of  the  Canadian 
people — Lord  Elgin — retired  in  1854,  and,  after  rendering 
substantial  service  to  his  country,  died  while  ruling  the  great 
Empire  of  India  for  the  Queen.  His  successor,  for  seven 
years,  was  Sir  Edmund  Walker  Head,  and  he,  in  1861,  was 
replaced  by  Lord  Monck.  They  were  both  careful  and  wise 
administrators,  who  did  much  to  smooth  the  still  rugged  edges 
of  the  new  governmental  system. 

In  1857,  upon  the  local  and  party  issue  which  had  been 
made  out  of  the  Queen's  choice  of  Ottawa  as  the  Provincial 
capital,  the  Government  of  Colonel  Tache  and  John  A.  Mac- 
donald was  defeated,  and  the  Liberals,  under  George  Brown 
and  A.  A.  Dorion,  had  the  pleasure  of  holding  office  for  two 
days.    Then  followed  George  E.  Cartier  and  John  A.  Mao 


r= 


SIF 


T 


208 


THE   STORY   OF    THE   DOMINION 


donald  in  a  Conservative  Ministry,  which  lasted  amid  varied 
shifts  in  policy  and  changes  in  personnel  until  1862,  when 
the  Liberals  came  in  again — under  J.  Sandfield  Macdonald 
and  L.  V.  Sicotte — for  a  couple  of  years,  and  with  various 
changes,  under  one  of  which  A.  A.  Dorion  succeeded  Sicotte 
as  the  French-Canadian  leader  in  the  Cabinet.  Sir  E.  P. 
Tache  and  John  A.  Macdonald  came  into  office  in  March, 
1864,  and,  in  1865,  the  former  was  succeeded  as  nominal 
Premier  by  Sir  N.  F.  Belleau. 

Meanwhile,  in  November,  1864,  George  Brown  had  co- 
alesced with  the  Conservative  Government  in  an  attempt  to 
remedy  the  constitutional  deadlock  which  was  threatening 
the  Province,  and  to  bring  about  a  radical  cure  for  this  evil 
and  a  brighter  future  for  the  country  by  the  uniting  of  all 
the  Provinces  of  British  America  in  a  Federal  bond.  With 
him  were  Liberals  such  as  Oliver  Mowat,  William  McDougall, 
and  W.  P.  Howland.  It  had  gradually  become  impossible  to 
govern  the  Province  under  existing  circumstances.  There 
seemed  to  be  no  common  bond  of  union  among  public  men ; 
no  common  principle  of  action  in  the  so-called  parties.  Georgo 
Brown,  with  his  Protestant  and  anti-French  section,  had 
hopelessly  divided  the  Liberal  party  in  Lower  Canada ;  while 
John  Hillyard  Cameron  and  the  Orangemen  formed  a  very 
uncertain  portion  of  the  Conservative  party  in  Upper  Can- 
ada. John  A.  Macdonald  was  an  adept  at  winning  the  alle- 
giance of  his  opponents  and  in  making  coalitions  which 
brought  him  temporary  strength  from  time  to  time;  but  it 
was  not  always  easy  to  hold  these  recruits,  and  new  issues 
were  apt  to  divert  their  loyalty  at  critical  moments.  The 
Baldwin  Reformers,  or  moderate  Liberals,  of  the  old  school 
did  not  always  stand  by  Macdonald,  while  the  Roman  Cath- 
olic vote  in  Upper  Canada  was  always  uncertain,  and  was 
controlled  at  times  by  John  Sandfield  Macdonald — ^himself  a 
Scotch  Catholic  and  powerful  with  the  old-time  Loyalist 
Highlanders.  In  the  Lower  part  of  the  Province,  there  was 
the  greatest  uncertainty,  and  neither  Morin  nor  Dorion  nor 
Cartierwas  strong  enough  to  dominate  the  situation — although 


was 
nor 


POLITICAL  REFORMS  AND  GENERAL  PROGRESS      259 

Cartier  did  ultimately  do  so  in  time  to  cari/  his  Province 
into  Confederation. 

Some  useful  legislation — and  some  that  was  purely  experi- 
mental— was  effected  even  amid  this  confusion.  The  volun- 
teer force  was  organized  for  home  defence  in  1855,  as  a  result 
of  the  feeling  aroused  by  the  Crimean  War,  and  ultimately, 
after  a  Government  had  been  beaten  upon  details,  a  fairly 
good  working  system  was  evolved.  In  1858,  a  limited  policy 
of  protection  was  established.  In  1848,  the  clause  in  the 
Act  of  Union  prohibiting  the  Legislature  from  using  the 
French  language  was  repealed. 

In  the  Maritime  Provinces  matters  had  progressed  much 
more  sedately  and  satisfactorily.  The  constitutional  storms 
were  largely  over,  and  the  people  had  very  sensibly  devoted 
themselves  to  more  material  things.  Sir  Edmund  Head,  Sir 
Arthur  Hamilton  Gordon,  Hon.  J.  H.  T.  Manners-Sutton, 
in  New  Brunswick,  and  Sir  John  Harvey,  Sir  J  G.  Le 
Marchant,  Lord  Mulgrave  (afterward  Marquess  of  Norman- 
by),  Sir  E.  G.  Macdonell,  and  Sir  W.  F.  Williams,  in  Nova 
Scotia,  proved  themselves,  upon  the  whole,  to  be  very  capable 
administrators.  Questions  of  railway  construction  were 
prominent  in  both  Provinces  for  years,  and  politics,  never 
very  violent  in  New  Brunswick,  were  also  comparatively 
quiet  in  the  sister  Province.  Prohibition  was  a  New  Bruns- 
wick issue  in  the  fifties,  while  the  improvement  of  education 
was  always  a  vital  matter.  The  former  principle  first 
brought  Samuel  Leonard  Tilley  to  the  front  as  a  Liberal 
leader  and  helped  to  make  him  Premier  in  1861-65.  Albert 
J.  Smith,  John  M.  Johnston,  Peter  Mitchell,  and  R.  D. 
Wilmot  were  other  political  leaders  of  the  decade  before 
Confederation.  In  Nova  Scotia,  Joseph  Howe  and  William 
Young  remained  the  chiefs  of  Liberalism,  with  Adams  G. 
Archibald  as  a  later  colleague ;  while  the  Conservative  party 
was  controlled  by  the  veteran,  James  W.  Johnston,  and  his 
successor,  Charles  Tupper. 


260 


THE  8T0RY   OF  THE  DOMINION 


RISE  OF  SIE  ClIABLES   TUPPEB 

The  rise  of  Dr.  Tupper  is  perhaps  the  most  important  po- 
litical event  in  the  Provinoial  history  of  this  period.  To 
fearlessly  face  Joseph  Howe  upon  the  public  platform  and 
to  defeat  him  in  a  Nova  Scotian  constituency,  as  Tupper  did 
in  the  early  fifties,  was  a  most  picturesque  and  striking  event. 
But  when  it  was  followed  up  by  the  development  of  a  strong 
personality  which  knew  neither  defeat  nor  fatigue  nor  rebuff, 
but  swept  through  the  Province  like  a  whirlwind  at  every 
election — sometimes  winning,  sometimes  losing,  but  always 
strong  and  resourceful — it  was  also  a  most  important  one. 
Dr.  Tupper  became  Premier  in  1864,  after  serving  four  years 
in  preceding  Cabinets.  His  chief  act  of  Provincial  legisla- 
tion was  the  reorganization  of  the  school  system  upon  the  basis 
of  free  attendance,  and  his  most  memorable  public  action  dur- 
ing this  period  was  his  policy  of  joining  in  the  Charlottetown 
Conference  for  the  Union  of  the  Maritime  Provinces. 

Prince  Edward  Island  had,  meantime,  developed  a  serious 
agitation  regarding  the  locking  up  of  its  lands  in  the  posses- 
sion of  British  absentee  capitalists.  Keen  discussion  with 
the  Home  Government  had  taken  place,  a  responsible  system 
of  administration  had  slowly  evolved  for  its  tiny  population, 
and  with  it,  in  1860,  had  come  the  appointment  of  an  Im- 
perial Commission  to  settle  the  question.  One  of  the  Com- 
missioners represented  the  Imperial  authorities,  one  the  ten- 
ants, and  one  was  Mr.  Joseph  Howe.  An  adjustment  of  diffi- 
culties was  made  to  the  satisfaction  of  the  Islanders,  but  it 
was  not  acceptable  to  the  London  authorities,  and  the  matter 
was  not  really  settled  until  the  Island  entered  the  Confedera- 
tion in  1873.  One  useful  thing  was  arranged,  however,  in 
the  purchase  by  the  Province  of  Lord  Selkirk's  estate  of 
62,000  acres,  which  was  generously  given  up  by  the  heirs  for 
some  £6,000  sterling.  But  the  verge  of  a  new  and  greater 
political  development  had  now  been  reached — hastened,  fortu- 
nately for  the  whole  country,  by  external  incidents  of  war 
and  fiscal  change. 


RECIPROCITY  AND  UNITED  STATES  CIVIL  WAR      261 


CHAPTER   XVI 

RECIPROCITY  AND   THE   UNITED  STATES  CIVIL   WAR 

THE  question  of  reciprocity  in  trade,  or  tariffs,  with 
the  United  States  has  been  an  important  one  to  the 
Canadian  Provinces  in  all  the  later  stages  of  their 
history.  It  was  discussed,  even  during  the  days  of  the  nav- 
igation laws  and  the  British  preferential  tariff,  at  such  pe- 
riods as  the  fluctuating  tendencies  of  trade  showed  some  pos- 
sible advantage  in  obtaining  freer  admission  to  the  American 
market  or  in  the  removal  of  the  embargo  upon  American 
ships  for  the  transport  of  products.  But  upon  the  whole,  the 
fiscal  preference  in  the  British  market  was  sufficient  to  hold 
the  interests  of  the  Provinces  largely  in  line  with  those  of 
England.  After  the  abolition  of  the  Corn  Laws,  however, 
with  its  opening  of  Canadian  ports  to  foreign  vessels,  and  the 
sudden  destruction  of  industry  and  credit  by  the  repeal  of 
the  preferential  duties,  the  British  Provinces  began  to  look 
around  for  other  markets  and  to  cultivate  possibilities  in  the 
Republic.  ,1;    .:...^    .,*.,.       ...       .        .,    ,    . 

r;,  >v     THE   PUBLIC   MIND   TURNS   TO   THE  STATES 

They  arranged  their  tariffs  so  as  to  treat  Great  Britain 
and  the  United  States  upon  a  basis  of  fiscal  equality,  and, 
though  not  yet  decidedly  protective  in  policy,  began  to  indi- 
cate tendencies  in  that  direction.  From  1849,  through  im- 
mediately following  years,  the  great  desire  of  the  people  in 
the  Canadas  was  for  some  arrangement  with  the  States  by 
which  their  farm  products  could  obtain  free  entry  to  its 
market;  while  in  the  Maritime  Provinces  the  pressing  de- 
mand of  the  moment  was  for  free  fish  in  the  same  direction. 
Everywhere,  also,  there  was  a  feeling  of  indignation,  or  re- 
gret, at  the  way  in  which  Great  Britain  had  apparently  dis- 
regarded their  interests  in  her  sudden  adoption  of  a  cosmo- 


f 


H^Q 


■^ 


262      i|..^?r     THE  STORY  OF   THE   DOMINION      '**73Si 


hf 


ft 

>» 


politan  trade  principle  and  the  bold  initiation  of  a  free  im- 
port policy. 

Naturally,  perhaps,  people  had  tu/aed  to  the  United  States 
in  the  financial  and  commercial  distress  which  followed  the 
unfortunately  hasty  action  of  the  Mother-country;  and  in 
the  subsequent  accession  to  office  of  Lord  Elgin  they  found  a 
man  peculiarly  suited  to  the  exigencies  of  the  moment.  In 
this,  as  in  every  other  important  matter  he  encountered,  that 
brilliant  nobleman  seems  to  have  risen  to  the  occasion.  In 
1854,  accompanied  by  Mr.  Francis  Hincks  and  other  dele- 
gates from  Canada  and  the  Maritime  Provinces,  the  Gov- 
ernor-General proceeded,  in  some  state  and  under  instructions 
from  the  British  Government,  to  negotiate,  if  possible,  a  treaty 
of  reciprocity.  , 

DIFFICULTIES   IN    THE   WAY  ,/;>>>         , 

It  was  a  difficult  thing  to  do.  There  was  no  love  lost  be- 
tween the  American  Kepublic  and  its  Motherland  at  this 
time,  though  much  the  gr  iter  part  of  the  hostility  was  felt 
by  the  former.  The  Oregon  question,  eight  years  before,  had 
nearly  resulted  in  conflict,  and  the  witr-cry  of  "Fifty-four, 
Forty,  or  Fight" — in  reference  to  the  latitude  of  the  disputed 
bouiidpry — had  rung  through  the  United  States  and  been 
received  with  intense  enthusiasm.  The  San  Ju^n  dispute 
had  just  comi^ienced,  and  was  also  to  see  many  threats  of 
war  before  ita  finnl  settlement. 

But  Lo/d  j^lgin  came  to  Washington  and  carried  every- 
thing befo/e  him.  The  result  may  have  been  partly  due  to 
American  indifference  regarding  the  Province  in  one  direc- 
tion and  to  the  belief,  in  nnother,  that  reclpiocity  would  has- 
ten the  inev't^ble  day  of  annexation ;  but  it  was  mainly  due 
to  Lord  Elgin'f  persca  lity  and  diplomacy.  No  doubt  he 
played  upon  al'  the  various  feelings  ref;arding  the  British 
Provinces,  whether  acquisitive,  indifferout,  or  ignorant.  No 
doiibi,  also,  t^iat  nothing  in  the  way  of  personal  hospitality 
and  the  cultivation  of  friendships  in  securing  the  individual 
suppovt  of  Senators  was  spared.     Indeed  it  has  been  said 


B 


RECIPROCITY  AND  UNITED  STATES  CIVIL  WAR      263 


more  than  once  in  Washington,  and  repeated  elsewhere,  that 
the  famous  Treaty  was  floated  through  the  Senate  upon  a  sea 
of  champagne.  Whatever  the  causes,  however,  the  astute 
Governor-Ger  Tal  won  the  day,  the  measure  passed  the  ordeal 
of  Congress,  and  becume  law  in  the  summer  of  the  same  year. 
This  remarkable  piece  of  diplomatic  work  was  of  much  ap- 
parent service  to  the  Provinces.  It  provided  for  a  free  ex- 
change of  the  products  of  the  sea,  the  farm,  the  forest,  and 
the  mine,  and  thus  benefited  Canadian  farmers,  lumbermen, 
and  minv^rs.  It  admitted  the  United  States  to  the  freedom 
of  the  rich  Atlantic  fisheries  and  to  the  benefits  of  Canadian 
canal  and  river  navigation.  But  it  was  unfortunately  found 
impossible  to  obtain  the  admission  of  Maritime  Province 
ships  to  the  American  coasting  trade.  Eventually,  also,  trou- 
ble grew  up  as  to  the  privileges  which  might  be  claimed  for 
American  manufactured  goods  under  the  general  understand- 
ing, though  not  technical  conditions,  of  the  arrangement.  On 
the  other  hand,  the  Americans  soon  diverted  much  of  the 
transportation  interests  of  the  Provinces  to  their  own  chan- 
nels of  trade.  *       ^ 

The  details  of  the  development  in  the  Canadas  which  fol- 
lowed the  acceptance  of  this  Treaty  are  of  great  importance 
to  a  clear  comprehension  of  local  conditions  and  future 
changes.  In  the  first  place,  the  years  which  followed  covered 
a  period  of  pronounced  increase  in  trade  between  the  two 
countries.  In  1854,  the  imports  of  the  British  Provinces 
from  the  United  States  amounted  to  $7,T25,000,  with  $1,- 
790,000  of  foreign  products — presumably  British  goods 
brought  via  American  railways  and  shipping.  The  exports 
to  the  Republic  in  that  year  were  $4,856,000  of  dutiable 
goods  and  $322,000  of  goods  paying  no  duty.  In  1866,  when 
the  arrangement  was  abrogated,  the  British  Provinces  had 
imported  from  the  States  $22,380,000  of  their  domestic  prod- 
ucts and  $2,448,000  of  foreign  products.  At  the  same  time 
they  had  exported  $43,029,000  of  free  goods  and  $5,499,000 
of  dutiable  goods  to  the  Ainerican  market.  As,  however,  the 
exports  had  been  less  by  $i  0,000,000  in  the  preceding  year, 


m 


264 


Xi 


vvH     TBE  STORY   OF   THE  DOMINION  7:  l\  J VA 


there  was  no  doubt  a  rush  of  produce  across  the  line  ±n  1866  to 
take  advantage  of  the  last  daysof  the  Treaty.  Still,  the  increase 
had  been  very  marked,  and  owing  largely  to  extraneous  condi- 
tions, had  been  exceedingly  beneficial  to  the  Canadian  farmer. 

•■  .0/  -,.-ii'. '}  .^• 

CONDITIONS    UNDER    EECIPKOCITY 

The  reasons  were  very  simple  and  very  plain.  The  Cri- 
mean War  had  first  raised  the  price  of  wheat  and  other  farm 
products,  the  American  Civil  War  had  maintained  the  higher 
rate,  and,  when  the  Treaty  was  abrogated,  conditions  were  not 
sufficiently  settled  for  a  number  of  years  after  the  wholesale 
withdrawal  of  millions  of  men  from  farming  and  other  in- 
terests of  the  Republic  to  allow  of  prices  being  lowered  to  any 
considerable  extent.  It  is  not  probable  that  the  Reciprocity 
arrangement  affected  this  condition  to  any  great  extent  either 
one  way  or  the  other.  Canadian  food  and  farm  products — 
wheat,  oats,  horses,  cattle,  sheep — were  needed  and  would 
have  been  purchased  with  or  without  a  Treaty.  But  appear- 
ances were  certainly  favorable  to  its  reputation  and  many  a 
farmer  in  Ontario  to-day  dates  his  father's  prosperity  and  his 
own  inheritance  from  the  golden  days  of  Reciprocity.  In  ad- 
dition to  the  influence  of  war  upon  prices,  the  Provinces  had 
also  been  in  one  of  those  periods  of  expansive  development 
which  cover  all  contemporary  arrangements  with  a  roseate 
flush  of  color.  An  era  of  active  construction  in  public  works 
commenced  at  the  same  time  as  the  Treaty  was  inaugurated. 
The  Grand  Trunk  Railway  was  built  to  the  extent  of  1,100 
miles  at  a  cost  to  the  local  authorities  of  $6,000,000,  and  with 
an  estimated  expenditure  of  $44,000,000  of  British  capital. 
The  Victoria  Bridge  at  Montreal,  descrijed  by  the  American 
Consul  at  that  city,  in  1860,  as  ''the  great  work  of  the  Age,'* 
was  erected  at  a  cost  of  nearly  $7,000,000. 

Everywhere  money  was  being  poured  out  upon  all  kiiida 
of  public  works  and  interests.  The  country  was  changing 
from  a  pioneer  community,  with  practically  nothing  but  ex- 
ports of  timber  in  the  market  of  the  world,  to  an  important 
commercial  and  financial  country,  and  feeling  its  way  toward 


i 


I 


(ital. 


RECIPROCITY  AND  UNITED  STATES  CIVIL  WAR      265 

conditions  which  were  to  make  a  national  union  and  a  na- 
tional structure  necessary  and  possible.  So  far  as  the  British 
Provinces  were  concerned,  the  net  result  of  the  Treaty  was 
an  apparent  increase  of  trade — which  would  have  come  any- 
way ;  greater  facilities  for  the  interchange  of  goods ;  the  build- 
ing up  of  American  railway  and  waterway  and  shipping  in- 
terests at  the  expense  of  Canadian  transportation  routes ;  the 
sapping  of  what  little  sentiment  there  had  been  in  favor  of 
inter-Provincial  trade  by  the  steadily  growing  tendency  of 
the  Provinces  to  send  their  prcducts  to,  and  buy  their  goods 
from,  the  nearest  and  most  convenient  market — that  of  the 
States  to  the  south.  During  the  first  year  of  the  Treaty, 
Canadian  imports  and  expo  s  by  the  St.  Lawrence  had  de- 
creased from  $33,600,000  to  $18,000,000,  and  continued  to 
do  so,  greatly  to  the  benefit  of  United  States  trade  routes. 
The  prosperous  condition  of  the  country  was,  in  reality,  not 
due  to  Reciprocity,  but  to  the  causes  already  outlined.  None 
the  less,  however,  did  the  Treaty  draw  the  ties  between  the 
two  countries  very  close  and  render  it  a  matter  for  grave 
alarm  to  the  financial,  commercial,  and  agricultural  inter- 
ests of  the  Provinces  when  the  ill-feeling  toward  England, 
aroused  by  the  Civil  War,  threatened  its  abrogation. 

The  balance  of  benefit  in  the  arrangement  was  really  with 
the  United  States.  Americans  enjoyed  the  free  navigation  of 
the  St.  Lawrence  and  the  use  of  the  costly  system  of  canals 
which  was  slowly  developing  through  the  expei.diture  of  Pro- 
vincial money.  British-American  fisheries  were  open  to  the 
fishermen  of  the  Republic,  and  M.  E.  H.  Derby,  in  his  Re- 
port to  Congress  upon  the  results  of  the  Treaty,  stated  the 
number  of  American  fishing  vessels  in  Canadian  waters  in 
1862  as  numbering  3,815.  Six  hundred  sail  during  a  single 
season  had  fished  for  mackerel  in  the  Gulf  of  St.  Lawrence, 
taking  fish  to  the  value  of  $4,500,000.  Meantime,  hardly  a 
British  smack  found  its  way  into  American  waters.  The 
increase  of  trade  was  a  boon  to  American  interests  before  the 
Civil  War  as  well  as  afterward.  During  the  twelve  years 
of  the  Treaty  $112,000,000  worth  of  breadstuffs  were  sent 

DOMIMION— la 


r^ 


266 


THE  STORY   OF   THE   DOMINION 


to  the  Provinces — largely  between  1854  and  1860 — and  $88,- 
000,000  of  manufactured  goods.  As  early  as  January,  1856, 
a  Special  Committee  of  the  New  York  Chamber  of  Com- 
merce reported  that:  "The  result  can  not  fail  to  be  greatly 
advantageous  to  both  countries.  While  the  trade  of  Canada 
by  the  St.  Lawrence  with  England  has  been  reduced,  that 
with  the  United  States  has  been  augmented ;  our  canals  and 
railroads  have  been  enriched  by  the  transportation  of  their 
surplus  productions ;  our  neighbors  have  purchased  largely 
in  our  markets  of  domestic  manufactures;  and  our  vessels 
have  had  the  advantage  of  an  increased  foreign  trade." 

Two  years  later  the  same  body  of  commercial  and  financial 
magnates  declared  by  Resolution  that  the  arrangement  was 
"one  of  the  most  important  commercial  treaties  ever  made 
by  our  Government."  On  February  10,  1862,  the  Chicago 
Board  of  Trade  declared  that  "the  Treaty  has  been  of  great 
value  to  the  producing  interests  of  the  whole  (American) 
Northwest."  On  March  8,  1864,  the  Boston  Board  of  Trade 
stated  that  its  continuance  "is  demanded  by  the  interests  of 
American  commerce" ;  while  on  December  9th  of  the  same 
year,  the  Detroit  Board  of  Trade  declared  that  the  agricul- 
tural and  commercial  interests  of  the  Northwest  were  almost 
unanimous  in  favor  of  its  renewal  and  that,  "in  whatever 
way  we  view  the  Treaty  it  has  been  of  vast  importance  to  us 
as  well  as  to  the  Colonies."  So  much  for  business  opinions 
of  the  arrangement  in  the  United  States  as  apart  from  politi- 
cal sentiment  and  easily  aroused  international  animosities. 
According  to  American  figures  also — the  Treasury  Depart- 
ment Bureau  of  Statistics — there  was  a  distinct  balance  of 
trade  in  favor  of  the  Republic  during  the  period  to  the  ex- 
tent of  $54,000,000.  The  amount  of  exports  to  the  Provinces 
was  given  at  $350,576,000  and  the  imports  from  them  at 
$295,766,000. 

■WHY  THE  TREATY  WAS  ABROGATED 

Meanwhile,  events  were  evolving  which  were  to  destroy 
the  'J  reaty   \nd  help  to  effect  a  constitutional  revolution  in 


RECIPROCITY  AND  UNITED  STATES  CIVIL  WAR      267 


m 


{ 


the  Provinces.  The  chief  nominal  cause  of  its  abrogation  in 
1866  was  an  attempt  by  Canada  to  protect  its  industries  in  a 
very  moderate  and  tentative  fashion.  The  financial  crisis  of 
1857  in  the  United  States  had  considerably  affected  Cana- 
dian interests  for  a  time  and  proved  an  interregnum  in  the 
general  prosperity  of  the  period.  Banks  had  failed,  invest- 
ments been  curtailed,  Provincial  revenues  greatly  lessened, 
and  a  deficit  created  -which,  in  1858,  amounted  to  $2,000,000. 
Something  had  therefore  to  be  done  with  the  tariff.  Mr.  A. 
T.  Gait,  who  held  the  position  in  the  Cartier-Macdonald 
Government  which  corresponded  with  the  later  one  of  Fi- 
nance Minister,  undertook  to  rearrange  the  duties  so  as  to  in- 
crease the  revenue,  and,  incidentally,  to  afford  some  slight 
protection  to  home  industries.  He  explained  publicly,  that 
"the  policy  of  the  Government  in  readjusting  the  tariff  has 
been,  in  the  first  place,  to  obtain  sufficient  revenue  for  the 
public  wants;  and,  secondly,  to  do  so  in  such  a  manner  as 
shall  most  fairly  distribute  the  burden  upon  the  different 
classes  of  the  community."  And,  then,  he  went  on  to  say 
that  the  Government  would  be  satisfied  "if  it  found  that  the 
increased  duties  absolutely  required  to  meet  its  engagements 
should  incidentally  benefit  and  encourage  the  production  in 
this  country." 

This  was  the  first  practical  development  of  protection  in 
Canada,  and  it  was  none  the  less  protection  because  of  being 
termed  "incidental."  As  an  illustration  of  the  policy  it  may 
be  pointed  out  that  the  duty  on  boots  and  shoes  and  harness 
goods  was  raised  from  12^  per  cent  in  1855  to  20  per  cent 
in  1857  and  25  per  cent  in  1859.  On  cotton,  iron,  silk,  and 
woolen  manufactures  the  duties  were  advanced  from  12^  per 
cent  in  1855  to  15  per  cent  in  1857  and  20  per  cent  in  1859. 
Speaking  at  Hamilton,  in  1861,  Mr.  John  A.  Macdonald  de- 
clared that  "it  is  a  matter  for  consolation  that  the  tariff  has 
been  so  adapted  as,  incidentally,  to  encourage  manufacturing 
industries  here."  The  immediate  result  of  this  policy  was 
an.  equalization  of  revenre  and  expenditure  and  the  raising 
of  a  controversy  with  certain  British  interests  which  objected 


tpMHi; 


268 


THE  STORY  OF   THE   DOMINION 


to  Colonial  tariffs  upon  their  goods  and  were  not  yet  edu- 
cated up  to  the  full  and  inevitable  effect  of  abrogating  the 
mutual  preferential  duties  in  favor  of  British  and  Colonial 
products  which  had  existed  prior  to  1846.  The  manufac- 
turers of  Sheffield  and  other  places  wanted  their  own  hands 
freed,  but  were  apparently  not  quite  ready  to  accord  the  same 
fiscal  freedom  to  Canadian  interests. 

Mr.  Gait  maintained  a  strong  and  spirited  correspondence 
with  the  Colonial  Office  in  connection  with  these  protests,  as 
did  one  of  his  successors,  the  Hon.  John  Rose,  and  the  ulti- 
mate result  was  a  complete  recognition  of  the  Colonial  right 
to  impose  duties  for  either  revenue  or  protective  purposes 
upon  British  and  foreign  goods.  Very  unfairly  the  Gait 
tariff  was  also  used  by  politicians  in  the  United  States  who 
were  hostile  to  England,  or  Canada,  or  both,  as  a  lever  to 
force  the  abrogation  of  the  Reciprocity  Treaty.  Although 
millions  of  dollars'  worth  of  manufactures  were  being  sent 
every  year  into  the  Provinces,  and  although  such  products 
were  deliberately  excluded  from  the  purview  of  the  original 
Treaty,  yet  it  was  claimed  that  this  readjusted  tariff  of  the 
Canadas  was,  in  some  unspecified  way,  an  infringement  of 
British  obligations  under  the  international  arrangement. 
This  contention  was  maintained  until  the  very  end,  and  de- 
spite such  statements  as  that  of  James  W.  Taylor,  in  an 
elaborate  Report  to  the  United  States  Secretary  of  the  Treas- 
ury in  March,  1860,  that  "our  manufacturers  demand  that 
Canada  shall  restore  the  scale  of  duties  existing  when  the 
Reciprocity  Treaty  was  ratified,  on  penalty  of  its  abrogation. 
When  it  is  considered  that  the  duties  imposed  by  the  Ameri- 
can tariff  of  1857  are  fully  25  per  cent  higher  than  the  cor- 
responding rates  of  the  Canadian  tariff,  the  demand  borders 
on  arrogance."  Nor  does  the  claim  seem  to  have  been  affected 
even  by  the  similar  declaration  of  the  I^Tew  York  Chamber 
of  Commerce,  on  December  21,  1864,  that  "the  additional 
duties  on  our  manufactured  imports  into  Canada  are  still 
moderate  and  are  for  revenue  purposes  only;  and  that,  with 
our  own  present  high  tariff,  we  are  the  last  persons  who  have 


IM 


fKini' 


RECIPROCITY  AND  UNITED  STATES  CIVIL  WAR      209 


a  right  to  complain  of  any  similar  p»'')cedure;  and  that,  u.>t- 
withstanding,  our  manufacturers  find  a  large  outlei.  in  tiiut 
direction."  Five  years  before  this,  in  1851>,  when  Lord  Na- 
pier, then  British  Ambassador  at  Wa^^hingtoii,  submitted  pro- 
posals for  "the  confirmation  and  expansion  of  froe  commercial 
relations  between  the  United  States  and  the  British  Prov- 
inces," they  had  been  declined. 

Yet  a  Committee  of  the  American  Congress  made  this  con- 
tention the  string  upon  which  to  hang  a  somewhat  bitter  in- 
dictment against  anada  for  illiberality  and  unfairness.  To 
it  Mr.  Gait  replied,*  by  quoting  the  perfect  freedom  of  the 
St.  Lawrence  from  the  Great  Lakes  to  the  ocean;  the  ab- 
sence of  lighthouse  dues :  the  repeal  of  tonnage  dues  on  Lake 
St.  Peter ;  the  abolition  of  tolls  on  all  vessels,  whether  Ameri- 
can or  Canadian ;  the  opening  of  extensive  districts,  east  and 
west,  free  from  all  customs  dues  whatever.  He  pointed  out  that 
Canada  had  a  perfect  right  to  arrange  its  tariffs  upon  goods 
expressly  excluded  from  the  Treaty,  in  such  a  manner  as 
was  best  suited  to  its  own  interests.  He  declared  that,  on 
the  other  hand,  the  United  States  had  not  acted  fairly  in 
many  matters.  They  had  imposed  heavy  consular  fees  on 
proof  of  origin,  which  became  tantamount  to  a  duty,  and 
which  were  not  removed  until  after  two  years  of  protest  and 
negotiation.  They  subjected  to  duty  flour  ground  in  Canada 
from  American  wheat  which  was  free  by  treaty.  They  im- 
posed a  tax  upon  timber  cut  in  Canada  out  of  American  saw- 
logs,  although  Canadian  saw-logs  were  free.  Canada  ad- 
mitted the  registration  of  foreign  vessels  without  charge ;  the 
United  States  did  not.  Canada  admitted  American  craft 
free  of  all  toll  or  charge  through  her  system  of  canals  to  the 
sea ;  but  no  Canadian  boat  was  allowed,  even  on  pajjinent  of 
toll,  to  enter  an  American  canal — despite  the  express  stipu- 
lation in  the  Treaty  itself,  thit  "the  Government  of  the 
United  States  further  engages  to  secure  to  the  subjects  of 
Her  Britannic  Majesty  the  use  of  the  several  State  canals 


•  Canadian  Sessional  Papers,  No.  23,  vol.  v,  1862. 


I 


270 


THE  STORY   OF   THE   DOMINION 


on  terms  of  equality  with  the  inhabitants  of  the  United 
States."  Foreign  goods  were  constantly  bought  in  the  Amer- 
ican market  and  brought  into  Canada,  paying  duty  only  upon 
the  original  foreign  invoice;  but  American  law  forbade  any- 
thing of  the  kind  being  done  in  Canada. 

Such  was  the  general  Canadian  position  regarding  the 
Treaty  and  the  nominal  cause  of  its  abrogation.  It  is  not 
probable  that  the  American  complaints  concerning  the  Gait 
Tariff  would  have  been  suflficiently  strong,  or  have  had  enough 
strength  behind  them,  to  procure  or  even  seriously  to  endan- 
ger its  existence,  had  there  not  arisen  the  intense  anti-British 
feeling  which  marked  the  progress  of  the  Trent  Affair,  and 
had  been  first  stirred  up  by  the  escape  of  the  Alabama  and 
the  supposed  sympathy  of  Great  Britain  and  Canada  with 
the  South.  When  this  spirit  developed  the  abrogation  be- 
came practically  in'ivitable,  although  the  business  interests 
of  the  country  were  opposed  to  such  an  action,  and  various 
Chambers  of  Commerce  continued  to  press  the  desirability 
of  retaining  or  renewing  the  Treaty.  One  of  the  notable 
efforts  made  in  this  direction  was  the  holding  of  an  interna- 
tional Reciprocity  Convention  at  Detroit.  It  was  opened  on 
July  11,  1865,  and  many  who  were  then,  or  afterward  be- 
came, well  known  in  business  or  politics  in  the  British  Prov- 
inces were  present — notably  Joseph  Howe,  William  McMas- 
ter,  Adam  Brown,  Billa  Flint,  Isaac  Buchanan,  Elijah  Leon- 
ard, J.  L.  Beaudry,  L.  H.  Holton,  Sir  Hugh  Allan,  E.  H. 
King,  Charles  J.  Brydges,  Peter  Redpath,  James  Skead, 
Charles  Fisher,  A.  E.  Botsford,  George  Coles,  Erastus  Wi- 
man,  and  John  McMurrich. 

American  delegates  were  in  attendance  from  Kew  York, 
Philadelphia,  Baltimore,  St.  Louis,  Boston,  and  from  almost 
every  important  town  or  district  north  of  Washington.  A 
Resolution  was  finally  passed  asking  for  fresh  negotiations 
and  a  new  Treaty.  The  most  striking  event  of  the  gather- 
ing was  the  wonderfully  eloquent  speech  of  Joseph  V  )we. 
It  was  logical  in  argument,  forceful  in  presenting  the  Brit- 
ish and  Canadian  case,  and  effective  in  its  personal  impres- 


RECIPROCITY  AND  UNITED  STATES  CIVIL  WAR      271 


siveness  beyond  any  other  Canadian  comparison.  Nothing, 
however,  could  overcome  the  feeling  which  prevailed  among 
the  American  delegates,  and  was  strengthened  by  pressure 
from  Washington,  that  any  strong  approval  of  the  Treaty, 
or  even  of  its  eventual  renewal,  would  retard  the  supposed 
Canadian  movement  toward  annexation.  It  was  believed 
and  freely  pointed  out  that  a  period  of  fiscal  coercion  would 
greatly  assist  this  tendency. 

When  the  notice  of  abrogation  was  first  given  in  1865  it 
came  with  something  of  a  shock  to  the  Canadian  people. 
They  had  grown  so  accustomed  to  the  absence  of  tariff  walla 
in  all  matters  connected  with  the  products  of  the  farm,  the 
forest,  the  mines,  and  the  fisheries,  that  their  coming  recon- 
struction was  looked  upon  with  actual  dismay  and  fear.  Busi- 
ness and  transportation  interests  had  become  so  assimilated 
with  those  of  the  United  States  that  a  sudden  and  serious 
change  of  this  sort  threatened  to  precipitate  a  fina^icial  panic. 
Talk  of  annexation  as  the  only  way  out  of  a  cul-de-sac  act- 
ually did  become  rampant  in  some  quarters,  and  further  in- 
creased the  fear  in  other  directions  as  to  what  the  end  of  it 
all  would  be.  Interests  built  up  as  a  result  of  twelve  years 
of  close  trade  relations  between  the  two  countries  trembled 
on  the  verge  of  ruin.  The  Government  appealed  to  the 
Mother-country  to  try  and  avert  what  they  declared  the  peo- 
ple would  regard  as  "a  great  calamity."  John  A.  Macdon- 
ald,  George  E.  Cartier,  George  Brown,  and  A.  T.  Gait  were 
sent  post-haste  to  England  to  point  out  that  the  whole  trade 
of  Canada  would  have  to  be  turned  into  new  channels  and 
much  disaster  follow  if  something  could  not  be  done  to  re- 
new the  arrangement.  Of  course,  the  Imp^erial  Government 
did  what  it  could,  and,  in  1866,  A.  T,  Gait  and  W.  P.  How- 
land  from  Canada,  W.  A.  Henry  from  Nova  Scotia,  and  A. 
J.  Smith  from  New  Brunswick,  met  Sir  Frederick  Bruce,  the 
British  Minister  at  Washington.  Through  him  they  tried 
to  negotiate  a  renewal.  It  was  useless,  however,  and  in  the 
succeeding  year  the  Treaty  ceased  to  exist.  At  the  same  time 
the  Fenian  raids  took  place,  and  added  the  danger  and  the 


W"^ 


ny 


S72 


THE  STORY   OF   THE  DOMINION 


>*St 


fact  of  actual  aggression  to  Canadian  fears  of  commercial 
disaster  and  restriction.  h  ■  > 

The  whole  trouble  arose  out  of  the  American  Civil  War 
and  the  irremovable  impression  of  the  Northern  States  that 
English  sympathy  was  with  their  antagonists.  There  is  no 
doubt  that  a  majority  of  the  British  aristocracy  sympathized 
with  the  South ;  that  Palmerston  and  Gladstone  and  other 
leaders  had  expressed  feelings  of  this  kind  in  language  as 
plain  as  it  was  unwise ;  that  the  great  Reviews  and  many  of 
the  newspapers  of  England  believed  the  war  to  be  one  of  con- 
quest and  not  of  national  unity.  But  the  Queen  is  row 
known  to  have  not  only  approved  the  cause  of  the  North,  but 
to  have  held  back  her  Government  from  that  formal  recogni- 
tion of  the  Soutiiern  States  which  would  have  made  France 
and  England  their  inevitable  allies;  leaders  of  such  opposite 
schools  of  thought  as  Disraeli  and  Bright  warmly  espoused 
the  side  of  the  North ;  the  men  of  Lancashire,  dependent  upon 
the  receipt  of  Southern  cotton  for  their  manufactures,  pre- 
ferred to  starve,  and  actually  did  starve,  rather  than  ask  their 
Government  to  interfere  in  the  contest;  the  Government 
eventually  refused  the  overtures  of  Napoleon  III  to  inter- 
vene, despite  the  close  relations  of  the  time  with  France  and 
the  close  personal  friendship  between  the  Queen  and  the  Em- 
peror and  Empress.  Canada,  on  her  side,  contributed  thou- 
sands of  volunteers  to  the  Northern  armies,  and  never  showed 
any  official  sympathy  with  the  South,  whatever  individuals 
may  have  felt.  .        ,  J    ,r   .■    i 

But  all  this  was  nothing  in  comparison  with  the  accidental 
escape  of  the  Alabama,  and  the  storm  which  found  expres- 
sion after  the  seizure  of  Mason  and  Slidell  in  a  British  ship 
and  the  necessity  of  surrendering  them  again  to  the  Power 
which  had  been  insulted.  The  first  result  of  the  feeling  thus 
aroused  was  the  abrogation  of  the  Reciprocity  Treaty,  the  sec- 
ond was  the  tacit  encouragement  given  to  the  Fenian  move- 
ment upon  Canada,  the  third  was  the  pressing  of  the  Alabama 
claims  to  the  point  of  war,  the  fourth  v^ras  the  Treaty  of  Wash- 
ington in  1871. 


THE  CONFEDERATION  OF  THE  PROVINCES         27 S 


'l.i: 


•» 


..  I 


CHAPTER  XVII 


'r?  :    I 


THE  CONFEDERATION  OF  THE  PROVINCES 

THE  union  of  all  the  Provinces  of  British  America 
did  not  come  in  a  moment  nor  did  it  come,  as  su- 
perficial observers  sometimes  say,  because  political 
complications  had  arisen  in  the  Canadas.  Despite  this  belief 
and  the  assertion  of  Mr.  Goldwin  Smith  that  the  parent  of 
Canadian  Confederation  was  constitutional  deadlock,  it  ap- 
pears evident  to  the  close  student  of  history  that  the  political 
issue  was  only  one  of  many  undercurrents  trending  in  the 
same  direction  and  all  combining  to  make  federation  inevi- 
table, as  well  as  desirable.  The  idea,  as  practically  con- 
sidered in  1864  and  achieved  in  1867,  was  not  a  new  one  in 
itself  nor  was  it  the  possession  of  any  single  mind  in  the 
annals  of  British  America. 


EARLY  ADVOCATES  OF  THE  IDEA 

Aside  from  proposals  by  Francis  Nicholson,  Governor 
Hutchinson,  Benjamin  Franklin,  and  TVilliam  Smith  for  the 
application  of  the  scheme  to  all  the  American  Colonies  in 
days  before  the  Revolution,  its  first  formal  suggestion  in 
the  British  America  of  the  present  time  was  by  Richard  J. 
Uniacke,  in  the  Legislative  Assembly  of  Nova  Scotia,  in 
1800.  This  was  followed  in  1814  by  the  probably  quite 
independent  and  original  advocacy  of  the  Hon.  Jonathan 
Sewell,  in  his  well-known  correspondence  with  H.R.H.  the 
Duke  of  Kent.  Mr.  Sewell,  afterward  Chief  Jup.tice  of 
Quebec,  and  during  many  years  a  prominent  figure  in  the 
politics  of  his  Province,  proposed  a  federal  union  of  all  the 
Provinces  with  one  Assembly  of  thirty  members.  The 
Queen's  father,  who  had  always  taken  a  deep  interest  in 
^  British  America,  besides  serving  at  both  Halifax  and  Quebec 


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274 


THE  STORY   OF   THE   DOMINION 


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in  command  of  the  troops,  went  carefully  into  the  matter 
and  suggested  as  a  preliminary  the  legislative  union  of  the 
Canadas  in  one  division  and  of  the  Maritime  Provinces  in 
another,  with  a  Federal  Government  at  Quebec,  for  the 
whole.  Ten  years  later.  Chief  Justice  Sewell,  Chief  Justice 
Sir  John  Beverley  Robinson  of  Upper  Canada,  and  Bishop 
Strachan  presented  a  pamphlet  echeme  for  a  general  union 
to  the  Imperial  authorities. 

THE   IDEA   PINDS   MAI>TY   SUPPORTERS 

So  far,  the  idea  had  been  essentially  a  Tory  one,  and  it 
was  treated  with  contumely  by  French  Canadians  as  well  as 
by  Radical  leaders.  But  about  this  time  it  was  supported 
in  a  tentative  and  theoretical  way  by  Robert  Gourlay  and 
W.  L.  Mackenzie,  and,  in  1837-38,  was  favored  in  more  or 
less  academic  resolutions  by  both  the  British  House  of  Com- 
mons and  the  Upper  Canada  Legislature.  Then  came  the 
recommendation  of  Lord  Durham  and  the  union  of  the  Can- 
adas. In  1849  the  Canadian  Legislative  Council  declared 
in  favor  of  federation,  while  the  troubles  at  Montreal  and 
elsewhere  in  connection  with  Rebellion  losses  legislation, 
British  free-trade  legislation,  and  the  Annexation  movement 
of  the  same  year,  induced  the  British  North  American 
League  to  include  Confederation  as  a  first  and  foremost 
fplank  in  its  platform.  The  advocates  of  the  policy  in  this  . 
popular  body,  it  is  worthy  of  notice,  were  largely  enthusi- 
astic young  Tories  under  the  leadership  of  the  now  rising  , 
politician — the  Hon.  John  A.  Macdonald.  In  1851  the  latter' 
attended  a  mass  meeting  in  Montreal  and  supported  a  reso- 
lution in  favor  of  the  principle,  while  about  the  same  time 
'the  Hon.  Henry  Sherwood,  an  old-time  Loyalist  and  Tory 
leader,  published  a  strongly  favorable  pamphlet. 

During  the  next  few  years  the  Hon.  James  W.  Johnston, 
Conservative  leader  in  TTova  Scotia,  Mr.  Pierce  S.  Hamilton, 
an  able  publicist  and  writer  in  the  same  Province,  and  the 
Hon.  J.  H.  Gray  in  !N'ew  Brunswick,  all  supported  the  idea 
in  speeches  or  writings.    Mr.  Johnston  and  the  Hon.  A.  G. 


THE  CONFEDERATION  OF  THE  PROVINCES         275 


Archibald  urged  the  proposal  officially  in  1857,  and  about 
the  same  time  there  appeared  its  first  popular  advocacy  by 
a  French  Canadian  in  the  form  of  a  series  of  letters  by  Mr. 
J.  C.  Tache  in  "Le  Courrier  du  Canada."  During  1858  the 
Hon.  A.  T.  Gait,  in  various  speeches,  and  the  Hon.  T. 
D'Arcy  McGee  in  the  Legislative  Assembly  of  the  Canadas, 
favored  the  policy,  while  it  received  f ~r  the  first  time  an 
ofiicial  Canadian  imprimatur  by  the  <jro\  •^^i  r-General,  Sir 
Edmund  W.  Head,  announcing  at  the  closing  of  the  Session 
that  he  intended  to  communicate  upon  the  subject  with  the 
Imperial  Government  and  the  Governments  of  the  other 
Colonies,  and  that  he  was  "desirous  of  inviting  them  to  dis- 
cuss with  us  the  principles  on  which  a  bond  of  a  federal 
character  uniting  the  Provinces  of  British  North  America 
may,  perhaps,  hereafter  be  practicable." 

In  the  same  year  his  Government  sent  Messrs.  Cartier, 
Gait,  and  John  Ross  to  England  for  the  purpose  of  inviting 
the  Home  Government  to  appoint  Delegates  from  all  the 
Provinces  to  discuss  a  federal  union.  Naturally,  and  prop- 
erly, the  Imperial  authorities  did  not  see  their  way  to  assume 
Buch  a  responsibility  and  preferred  leaving  the  seed  to  grow 
in  its  own  soil  until  a  stage  of  fruition  had  beeai  reached 
in  which  the  various  branches  of  a  single  stem  might  draw 
together  of  their  own  volition. 

About  the  time  of  this  mission  to  England,  Mr.  Alexander 
Morris — long  afterward  Lieutenant-Governor  and  Chief  Jus- 
tice of  Manitoba  in  succession — delivered  a  somewhat  famous 
lecture  in  Montreal  and  published  it  under  the  title  of  "Nova 
Britannia."  In  it  he  foretold  a  future  fusion  of  races  in 
British  America,  a  union  of  all  the  Provinces  and  territories 
from  ocean  to  ocean  and  a  railway  to  the  Pacific.  During 
the  same  year,  and  in  the  Montreal  "Gazette,"  there  appeared 
a  strong  letter  in  favor  of  union  written  by  James  Ander- 
son and  significant  for  its  reference  to  John  A.  Macdonald 
as  "the  primary  mind  of  the  Canadian  Legislative  Assembly" 
and  as  long  since  prepared  for  carrying  out  this  policy.  Upon 
the  failure  of  the  Canadian  Delegation  already  referred  to, 


C  :■! 


I 


276 


THE  STORY   OF   THE  DOMINION 


the  Maritime  Provinces  sent  another  one  and  it  was  assnred 
that  no  obstacles  would  be  placed  in  the  way  of  union — Mr. 
Labouchere,  the  Colonial  Secretary,  and  afterward  Lord  Taun- 
ton, going  so  far  as  to  say  that  he  thought  a  union  among 
the  Maritime  Provinces  themselves  would  be  exceedingly 
beneficial.  The  question  now  became  more  and  more  widely 
discussed.  Tariff  and  railway  matters  brought  the  Provinces 
from  time  to  time  before  the  attention  of  portions  of  the 
British  public,  while  the  idea  itself  was  slowly  but  surely  sift- 
ing into  and  permeating  the  minds  of  people  in  the  Provinces. 

In  1859  a  gathering  of  Bristol  merchants  urged  the  im- 
portance of  the  proposed  Inter-Colonial  Railway  as  a  help 
toward  union^  and  a  little  later,  in  one  of  the  eddying  cur- 
rents of  political  opinion  during  that  period  of  conflict,  a 
Liberal  Convention  at  Toronto  passed  a  resolution  depre- 
cating federal  union.  In  the  follomng  year  the  Halifax 
"Reporter"  supported  the  principle  strenuously,  and  one  of 
its  editorials  on  the  subject  is  said  to  have  received  the  ap- 
proval of  the  Prince  of  Wales  when  he  was  starting  from 
Halifax  upon  his  tour  of  the  Provinces.  Dr.  Charles  Tupper, 
about  the  same  time,  lectured  in  its  favor  at  St.  John,  and 
in  the  succeeding  year  Mr.  John  A.  Macdonald  declared  in 
an  address  to  the  electors  of  Kingston,  that  "the  Govern- 
ment will  not  relax  its  exertions  to  effect  a  Confederation  of 
the  British  North  American  Provinces."  About  the  same 
time,  also,  Mr.  Joseph  Howe  moved  a  Resolution  in  the  Nova 
Scotian  Assembly  asking  the  Lieutenant-Governor  to  ascer- 
tain the  views  of  the  Colonial  Secretary,  the  Governor-Gen- 
eral, and  the  other  Lieutenant-Governors  upon  the  question. 
From  the  Duke  of  Newcastle,  Colonial  Secretary,  came  an 
intimation  in  reply  that  if  the  Provinces  took  any  action  in 
the  matter  the  result  would  be  weighed  by  Her  Majesty's 
Government  "with  no  other  feeling  than  an  anxiety  to  dis- 
cern and  promote  any  course  most  conducive  to  the  pros- 
perity, the  strength,  and  the  harmony"  of  the  Britisli  com- 
munities in  North  America. 

Finally^  in  1864,  Mr.  George  Brown  reported  from,  and 


THE  CONFEDERATION  OF  THE  PROVINCES         277 


i"" 


on  behalf  of,  a  Committee  of  the  Canadian  Legislature  in 
favor  of  Confederation.  Just  at  this  moment  Resolutions 
appointing  Delegates  to  meet  at  Charlottetown  for  the  pur- 
pose of  discussing  a  union  of  the  Maritime  Provinces  had 
been  passed  in  the  Legislature  of  Nova  Scotia,  mainly  through 
the  initiative  of  Dr.  Tupper,  in  that  of  New  Brunswick 
through  the  exertions  of  Mr.  S.  L.  Tilley,  and  in  the  Legis- 
lature of  Prince  Edward  Island  through  the  influence  of  Mr. 
W.  H.  Pope.  The  Conference  met  and  received  a  deputa- 
tion from  the  Province  of  Canada  composed  of  John  A.  Mac- 
donald,  George  Brown,  George  E.  Cartier,  A.  T.  Gait,  T. 
D'Arcy  McGee,  Alexander  Campbell,  and  H.  L.  Langevin. 
The  result  of  the  representations  made  by  the  Canadians  was 
a  decision  to  enlarge  the  scope  and  policy  of  the  Convention 
so  as  to  cover  all  the  Provinces  and  to  adjourn  with  a  view 
of  meeting  in  a  fuller  and  more  authoritative  gathering  for 
a  discussion  of  the  greater  federal  union.  -     .sif-:. 

CAUSES  OF  COI^FEDEEATION 

How  the  movement  had  come  to  reach  this  advanced  stage 
is  an  interesting  story.  As  already  stated,  there  was  no  single 
cause  sufficiently  strong  to  have  forced  it  to  a  head.  There 
was,  however,  the  concurrent  pressure  of  a  number  of  in- 
fluences which,  in  concrete  form,  brought  about  the  result. 
First  and  foremost  was  the  growing  hostility  of  the  United 
States  as  exhibited  in  the  Trent  Affair,  embodied  in  news- 
paper articles  against  England,  and  impres3ed  upon  the  Prov- 
inces by  the  threatened  abrogation  of  the  Reciprocity  Treaty. 
Then,  there  existed  a  feeling  in  many  far-seeing  minds  that 
there  was,  perhaps,  a  deeper  danger  in  the  existing  develop- 
ment of  the  separated  Provinces  toward  the  United  States 
in  a  commercial  and  financial  sense,  than  there  would  be  in 
any  condition  of  actual  and  permanent  antagonism  upon  the 
part  of  the  Republic.  If  matters  went  on  as  they  were  going 
and  the  Reciprocity  Treaty  should  be  renewed  it  seemed  ap- 
parent to  these  thinkers  that  the  ties  between  the  Provinces 
and  individual  States  to  the  south  would  become  so  strong 


278 


THE  STORY  OF   THE  DOMINION 


as  to  draw  the  former  still  further  from  each  other  and  make 
a  future  united  British  country  practically  impossible. 

The  Colonial  Office  had  also  commenced  to  take  an  interest 
in  the  matter,  and  the  rejection  of  a  Militia  Bill  in  the  Cana- 
dian Legislature  from  purely  partisan  motives,  at  a  critical 
moment  in  the  jTren^  Affair,  when  England  was  pouring  troops 
by  thousands  into  British  America,  had  aroused  attention  to 
the  weakness  of  the  Provinces  from  a  defensive  standpoint 
and  to  the  greater  weakness  arising  out  of  politics  which  were 
truly  Provincial  in  their  pettin*.  ^s  and  yet  injurious  in  their 
strength  of  feeling.  To  obtain  organization  in  a  military 
sense  it  was  seen  that  organization  in  a  constitutional  sense 
must  first  be  created,  and  from  the  earlier  "sixties"  onward 
the  Imperial  Government  consistently  but  quietly  utilized  its 
influence  to  forward  the  idea  of  unity  and  federation.  Lord 
Monck,  who  became  Governor-General  in  1861,  used  all  his 
ability  and  the  silent,  continuous  pressure  of  viceregal  ap- 
proval to  advance  the  principle;  Lieutenant-Governors  were 
appointed  with  distinct,  though  private,  instructions  along  the 
same  line  and  at  least  one  of  them  was  removed  for  expres- 
sions unfavorable  to  the  policy.  This  was  an  important  aid 
to  the  inception  of  Confederation  which  is  often  overlooked. 

Equally  important,  but  not  of  supreme  importance  in  the 
evolution  of  the  movement,  was  the  deadlock  in  Govern- 
ment which  aroso  at  Ottawa.  The  conflicting  elements  in 
this  trouble  were  almoct  innumerable  though  a  few  stand  out 
with  greater  prominence  than  others.  The  racial  feeling 
was  still  strong  in  Lower  Canada  and  found  frequent  ex- 
pression in  the  Legislature,  in  the  choice  of  political  leaders, 
in  the  almost  bewildering  difficulties  of  Cabinet  formation. 
The  absence  of  a  Prime  Minister  in  the  full  constitutional 
sense  of  the  word  and  the  existence  of  two  leaders  in  the 
Cabinet  with  distinct  territorial  and  racial  jurisdiction  (the 
Attorneys-General  of  Canada  East  and  West)  was  a  source 
of  endless  and  inevitable  confusion.  The  slow  but  steady 
disruption  of  the  Liberal  party  by  the  formation  of  George 
Brown's  anti-French  and  anti-Catholic  organization  and  the 


■fr!" 


THE  CONFEDERATION  OF  THE  PROVINCES 


279 


vigorous,  slashing  style  of  the  "Globe"  under  his  control  were 
elements  which  naturally  added  to  the  complexities  of  the 
situation.  It  took  time  also  for  Mr.  Macdonald's  new  party 
to  evolve,  and  the  French  Canadians  were  slow  to  leave  their 
racial  unity  of  thought  and  action  and  to  divide  in  a  party 
sense — even  under  the  goad  of  George  Brown's  continued 
onslaughts  in  connection  with  the  question  of  representation 
by  population.  They  had  so  long  and  harmoniously  called 
themselves  Radicals,  or  Liberals,  or  Reformers;  they  had  so 
bitterly  fought  the  Tories,  or  Conservatives,  in  the  first  forty 
years  of  the  century ;  they  had  so  strongly  regarde J  the  lat- 
ter as  identified  with  a  hated  form  of  British  racial  supremacy, 
that  it  was  difficult  even  for  the  most  tactful  of  statesmen 
to  change  their  party  allegiance.  The  change  was  bound  to 
be  a  slow  one,  and,  in  the  meantime,  the  deadlock  came  when 
no  party  in  the  nominally  united  Provinces  could  form  or 
hold  a  Government. 

Other  and  minor  influences  there  were  in  the  development 
toward  union.  The  politicians  of  the  Provinces  were  be- 
coming better  known  to  one  another  and  their  frequent  con- 
ferences upon  railway  and  other  matters  insensibly  taught 
them  the  common  interests  which  should  exist,  and  really 
did  exist,  among  their  peoples.  With  the  increase  of  popula- 
tion and  the  growth  of  railways  there  came  also  some  meas- 
ure of  increased  intercourse  and  trade — though  these  were 
greatly  checked  by  the  close  relation  with  southern  neighbors. 
A  certain  element  among  the  people — many  of  them  French 
Canadians — dreani'^d  of  a  distant  future  of  complete  inde- 
pendence, and  there  were  men  in  all  the  Provinces  favorable 
to  Confederation  as  a  step  in  that  direction.  Others  wanted 
annexation  and  thought  this  policy  would  make  them  strong 
enough  to,  some  day,  throw  off  "the  bonds  of  British  con- 
nection," and  to  then  throw  themselves  into  the  arms  of  the 
Republic.  Loyalists  of  the  olden  type — and  they  were  still 
numerous — felt  that  the  only  hope  of  protecting  their  inde- 
pendence from  the  United  States  was  by  a  policy  of  uniting 
British  resources  in  the  creation  of  a  strong  British  state. 


280 


THE  STORY   OF   THE  DOMINION 


Thus,  rU  kinds  of  cross-currents  of  vague  opinion  were  being 
gradually  molded  into  shape  and  prepared  for  supporting 
the  general  principles  of  unity.  During  the  succeeding  years, 
1865-66,  the  abrogation  of  Reciprocity  and  the  Fenian  raids 
were  to  change  greatly  the  course  of  minor  streams  of 
thought  and  unite  public  sentiment  in  favor  of  Confederation 
as  the  only  safeguard  against  an  American  policy  of  either 
coercion  or  conciliation.  Though  in  the  first  instance  one  of 
many  original  causes  of  Confederation,  this  feeling  became 
in  the  end  the  predominant  popular  reason  for  approval  of 
a  policy  which  by  1865  was  practically  consummated.-;  ,• 

A   MEMORABLE    CONFERENCE  ' 

The  Conference  of  statesmen  which  met  at  Quebec  on  Oc- 
tober 10,  1864,  was  a  memorable  gathering  in  Canadian  his- 
tory. The  "Fathers  of  Confederation,"  who  then  met  with 
the  object  of  laying  the  constitutional  foundations  of  a  new 
British  nation,  were  men  of  great  ability  in  many  cases,  of 
much  local  influence  in  all  cases.  Some  of  them  would  have 
graced  the  matured  councils  of  an  empire  instead  of  the 
infant  stages  of  national  construction.  Canada  was  well  rep- 
resented. Its  master-mind,  in  the  person  of  John  A.  Mac- 
don  aid,  was  then  in  all  the  vigor  of  his  keen,  constructive  in- 
tellect, and  a  subtle,  supple  comprehension  of  the  quick- 
changing  fancies  of  the  public  and  its  political  leaders. 
Marred  as  his  ability  was  by  the  weakness  which  at  times  de- 
tached him  from  serious  matters  and  plunged  his  genial  per- 
sonality in  a  self-indulgence  which  would  have  ruined  any 
lesser  man,  there  could  be  no  doubt  of  his  foremost  place  in 
any  gathering  of  contf.^mporaries.  Sir  Etienne  Paschal 
Tache,  the  cultured,  patriotic  French-Canadian  gentleman 
who  once  declared  that  the  last  gun  fired  in  North  America 
in  defence  of  British  connection  would  be  fired  by  one  of  his 
race,  was  there,  and  with  unanimous  approval  took  the  place 
of  Chairman. 

George  Brown,  the  energetic,  forceful  personality,  the 
honest  lover  of  his  country,  the  bitter  antagonist  of  French 


' 


THE  CONFEDERATION  OF  THE  PROVINCES         281 

or  Catholic  supremacy  in  its  affairs,  was  present  with  a  sin- 
cere desire  to  advance  that  caTise  of  nnion  which,  for  soma 
years,  he  had  been  most  earnestly  advocating.  George 
Etienne  Cartier,  the  admirfer  and  friend  and  colleague  of 
"John  A.,"  was  there  as  representative  of  the  growing  Con- 
servative party  of  French  Canada.  Alexander  Tilloch  Gait, 
independent  in  view,  sturdy  in  character,  honest  in  purpose, 
was  present  as  representative  and  guardian  of  the  Protestant 
interests  of  the  Eastern  Townships  of  Lower  Canada.  Wil- 
liam McDougall,  a  singularly  able  man  with  a  disappoint- 
ing  subsequent  career;  Thomas  D'Arcy  McGee,  a  brilliant 
Irishman  of  patriotic  and  eloquent  personality  and  with  a 
melancholy  death  not  very  far  away  in  the  fields  of  fate; 
Oliver  Mowat,  a  rising  Liberal  leader ;  Alexander  Campbell, 
and  James  Cockbum,  two  prominent  Conservative  politicians ; 
Hector  Louis  Langevin  and  Jean  Charles  Chapais,  two 
French  Canadians  of  acknowledged  ability,  completed  the  list 
of  Delegates  from  the  Canadas. 

From  N^ova  Scotia  came  the  strenuous,  aggressive,  forceful 
personality  of  Charles  Tupper,  able  and  eloquent,  and  des- 
tined to  be  the  life-long  friend  and  ultimate  successor  of  Sir 
John  Macdonald.  With  him  were  well-known  men  in  the 
field  of  local  politics — W.  A.  Henry,  a  future  Judge  of  the 
Supreme  Court  of  Canada;  Jonathan  McCully  and  R.  B. 
Dickey,  members  of  its  future  Senate ;  Adams  George  Archi- 
bald, a  Lieutenant-Governor  of  two  of  its  coming  Provinces. 
From  New  Brunswick  came  the  suave,  pleasant,  and  popular 
Samuel  Leonard  Tilley,  an  able  politician  and  a  good  finan- 
cier of  the  future.  With  him  were  John  M.  Johnston,  Charles 
Fisher,  Peter  Mitchell,  Edward  Barron  Chandler,  W.  H. 
Steeves,  and  John  Hamilton  Gray — only  one  of  whom,  in  the 
person  of  Peter  Mitchell,  can  be  said  to  have  obtained  a  na- 
tional reputation ;  yet  all  of  whom  were  men  of  marked  ability 
in  different  ways  and  differing  degrees.  Prince  Edward  Isl- 
and was  represented  by  Colonel  Gray,  Edward  Palmer,  after- 
ward its  Chief  Justice,  W.  H.  Pope,  George  Coles,  Edward 
Whelan,  T.  H.  Haviland,  and  A.  A.  Macdonald — ^the  two  last 


282 


THE  STORY   OF  THE  DOMINION 


rffl 


living  to  preside  over  their  native  Province  as  Lieutenant- 
Governors.  Newfoundland,  though  it  shared  the  policy  of 
its  sister  Island  in  ultimately  refusing  for  a  time  to  enter 
Confederation,  sent  Delegates  to  the  Conference  in  the  per- 
sons of  F.  B.  T.  Carter  and  Ambrose  Shea — each  of  whom 
in  later  days  won  his  knighthood  from  the  Crown. 

Such  was  the  gathering  which,  after  prolonged  discussion, 
finally  passed  the  seventy-two  Resolutions  which  practically 
constituted  the  British  North  America  Act  of  1867 — so  far 
as  the  terms  and  conditions  of  that  measure  were  concerned. 
There  was,  however,  a  long  struggle  before  success  came,  and 
the  causes  and  sentiments,  already  referred  to,  had  been  given 
the  opportunity  of  crystallizing  into  a  general  acceptance  of 
the  document.  The  Union  Resolutions  were  adopted  in  the 
Canadian  Assembly,  in  1865,  by  ninety-one  to  thirty-three 
votes,  and  in  the  Council  by  eighty-five  to  forty-five  votes — 
fifty-four  from  Upjier  Canada  and  thirty-seven  from  Lower 
Canada  constituting  the  favorable  vote  in  the  Assembly.  Af- 
ter two  general  elections  in  New  Brunswick  and  a  passing 
change  of  Government  the  Resolutions  were  approved  in 
■July,  1866,  by  good  majorities.  In  Nova  Scotia,  as  in  Can- 
ada, the  Resolutions  were  adopted  by  the  Legislature — on 
motion  of  the  Hon.  Dr.  Tupper  in  the  Assembly  and  by  a 
vote  of  thirteen  to  nineteen — without  a  general  election. 

In  this  latter  Province  grave  troubles  were  to  ensue  as  a 
result  of  Joseph  Howe's  opposition  to  Confederation.  He 
had  been  excluded  from  the  Conferences  for  reasons  techni- 
cally correct,  but  which  seem,  in  the  judgment  of  later  times, 
to  have  been  politically  unwise.  The  decision  to  oppose  the 
measure  does  not  appear  to  have  been  a  sudden  one,  but  to 
have  developed  out  of  reasons  beyond  his  control,  and,  per- 
haps, chiefly  because  of  the  impossibility  of  two  such  Caesars 
as  Tupper  and  Howe  ruling  in  the  same  party  organization 
at  the  same  time.  There  were,  of  course,  other  men  of  prom- 
inence in  the  Provinces  who  had  not  been  members  of  the 
Quebec  Conference.  Sir  N.  F.  Belleau,  John  Hillyard  Cam- 
eron, Malcolm  Cameron,  P.  J.  O.  Chauveau,  Antoine  Aime 


THE  CONFEDERATJOIi  OF  THE  PROVINCES 


283 


Dorion,  M.  H.  Foley,  Luther  Hamilton  Holton,  J.  Sandfield 
Macdonald,  John  Rose,  and  Francis  Hincks  were  none  of 
them  present — some,  perhaps,  because  of  known  opposition 
to  the  scheme;  Francis  Hincks,  because  of  absence  from  the 
scene  of  his  many  political  labors  as  Governor  of  British 
Guiana.  But  all  of  them  put  together  were  not  as  impor- 
tant at  this  juncture  as  Joseph  Howe.  While  his  construc- 
tive statesmanship  does  not  seem  to  have  been  remarkable, 
the  effect  of  his  eloquence  would  have  been  very  great,  and, 
could  it  have  been  brought  to  bear  in  all  the  Provinces  at  a 
later  period,  must  have  hastened  the  growth  of  a  Canadian 
sentiment  which  proved  rather  slow  in  maturing,  r  •    :   •    ; 

COMPLETING  THE  CONSTITUTION 

In  December,  1866,  Delegates  from  the  Provinces  of 
Canada,  Nova  Scotia,  and  New  Brunswick  met  in  London 
to  make  the  final  preparations  and  to  see  the  measure  through 
the  Imperial  Parliament.  Mr.  John  A.  Macdonald  was  ap- 
pointed Chairman  of  the  Conference,  and,  of  those  who  had 
been  at  Quebec,  Messrs.  McDougall,  Tilley,  Tupper,  Cartier, 
Gait,  McCully,  Fisher,  Johnston,  Mitchell,  Archibald,  Lange- 
vin,  and  Henry  were  also  present,  as  were  three  new  men — 
J.  W.  Eitchie,  W.  P.  Howland,  and  R.  D.  Wilmot.  The 
final  details  were  settled,  and,  on  the  28th  of  March,  1867, 
the  Resolutions,  after  passing  th^-ough  the  Imperial  Parlia- 
ment as  the  British  North  America  Act,  received  the  Queen's 
assent,  and  became  the  constitution  of  the  New  Dominion* 
of  Canada  on  the  ensuing  1st  of  July. 

Under  the  terms  of  this  Federal  constitution,  or  by  virtue 
of  British  precedents  and  practices  afterward  read  into  it, 
the  following  system  was  established,  or  has  in  its  working 
details  been  since  evolved: 

1.  A   Governor-General   representing  the   Sovereign,   ap- 

•  It  is  to  be  regretted,  in  light  of  later  Imperialistic  developments, 
that  Sir  John  Macdonald's  proposal  in  the  first  draft  of  the  Act  to 
make  the  title,  "Kingdom  of  Canada,"  should  have  been  opposed  by  Lord 
Stanley  (16th  Earl  of  Derby),  who  was  then  the  Foreign  Secretary,  as 
being  likely  to  offend  the  susceptibilities  of  the  United  States. 


[, 


/ 


i 


284 


THE  STORY   OF  THE  DOMINION 


pointed  by  the  Crown  for  five  years,  and  holding,  practically, 
tlie  same  place  in  tlio  Canadian  constitution  as  the  Queen 
doee  in  that  of  Great  Britain. 

2.  A  Cabinet  composed  of  members  of  the  Queen's  Privy 
Council  for  Canada,  who  may  be  chosen  from  either  branch 
of  Parliament,  and  whose  chief  is  termed  the  Premier.  He 
has  usually  been  leader  of  the  House  of  Commons  as  weil  as 
the  recognized  leader  of  his  party.  The  Cabinet  must  com- 
mand the  support  or  confidence  of  a  majority  in  the  Com- 
mons. The  Ministers  may  vary  in  number  as  well  as  the 
Departments  of  Government — the  administration  of  which 
usually  falls  to  members  of  the  Cabinet. 

3.  A  Senate,  whose  members  are  appointed  for  life  by  the 
Governor-General-in-Council.  It  is  composed  of  seventy- 
eight  members,  who  must  possess  property  qualifications,  bo 
thirty  years  of  age  and  British  subjects.  They  receive  $1,000 
for  a  Session  of  thirty  days,  with  traveling  expenses. 

4.  A  House  of  Commons  composed  of  members  elected  for 
a  maximum  period  of  five  years  by  popular  vote — from  1898, 
under  the  franchise  of  the  different  Provinces.  There  is  no 
property  qualification,  but  members  must  be  at  least  twenty- 
one  years  of  age,  British  subjects,  and  not  disqualified  by 
law.  There  are  213  members,  and  the  Sessional  allowance 
is  $1,000.        -'-  ^  '■'    ^^—       -  ^--    '■    ■    "'  -  - 

5.  The  Provincial  Governments  are  composed  of  the  Lieu- 
tenant-Governor, appointed  for  a  temi  of  five  years  by  the 
Govemor-General-in-Council  (which  phrase  usually  means 
the  Dominion  Cabinet)  ;  the  Ministry,  composed  of  Depart- 
mental officers  selected  from  either  House  of  the  Legislature, 
and  often  having  additional  mcrnbers  without  office  or  emolu- 
ment; a  Legislative  Council,*  in  Nova  Scotia  and  Quebec, 
composed  of  members  appointed  by  the  Provincial  Govern- 
ment, or  Lieutenant-Govemor-in-Council,  and  in  Prince  Ed- 
ward Island  elected  by  the  people;  and  a  Legislative  As- 


:  1 


*  Ontario  decided  to  dispense  with  a  Council  altogether,  British  Co- 
lumbia at  a  later  date  did  the  same,  and  Manitoba  and  New  Brunswick 
have  since  abolished  theirs. 


THE  CONFEDERATION  OF  THE  PROVINCES 


28& 


serably  elected  for  four  years  by  popular  vote.  In  all  the 
Provinces  manhood  suffrage,  limited  by  residence  and  citi- 
zenship, is  the  law,  except  in  Prince  Edward  Island. 

Under  the  terms  of  Union,  the  Dominion  Parliament  was 
to  have  control  of  the  general  affairs  of  the  country,  includ- 
ing all  matters  not  specifically  delegated  to  the  Provincial 
authorities — the  reverse  of  the  United  States  system  and  of 
the  Australian  constitution  lately  (1900)  completed.  The 
ohief  subjects  of  Federal  control  were  the  regulation  of  trade 
and  commerce ;  the  postal  system ;  the  public  debt,  public 
property,  and  borrowing  of  money  on  the  credit  of  the  Do- 
minion ;  the  militia  and  all  matters  connected  with  the  local 
defence  of  the  coimtry ;  navigation,  shipping,  quarantine,  and 
the  coast  and  inland  fisheries;  currency,  coinage,  banks, 
weights  and  measures,  bills  and  notes,  bankruptcy  and  in- 
solvency ;  copyright,  and  patents  of  inventions  and  discovery ; 
Indians,  naturalization,  and  aliens ;  marriage  and  divorce ; 
customs  and  excise  duties;  public  works,  canals,  railways, 
and  penitentiaries;  criminal  law  and  procedure. 

The  Provincial  Legislatures  were  to  have  control  of  cer- 
tain specified  subjects,  including  direct  taxation ;  the  borrow- 
ing of  money  on  Provincial  credit ;  the  management  and  sale 
of  local  public  lands  and  of  the  wood  and  timber  thereon; 
the  establishment,  maintenance,  and  management  of  prisons 
and  reformatories,  hospitals,  asylums,  and  charitable  insti- 
tutions generally;  licenses  to  saloons,  taverns,  shops,  and 
auctioneers;  certain  specified  public  works  within  the  Prov- 
ince; the  administration  of  justice  under  certain  jurisdic- 
tiors  and  Provincial  Courts;  together  with  education  and 
municipal  institutions. 

Under  the  terms  of  the  Act,  Ontario,  or  Upper  Canada, 
has  92  representatives  in  the  House  of  Commons ;  Quebec,  or 
Lower  Canada,  65 ;  Nova  Scotia,  20 ;  New  Brunswick,  14. 
'As  the  other  Provinces  came  into  the  Union  Prince  Edward 
Island  was  given  5  members,  Manitoba,  Y,  British  Columbia, 
'6,  and  the  North-West  Territories,  4.  The  basis,  according 
to  population,  is  that  of  Quebec,  with  its  65  members,  and 


r 


286 


THS  STORY  OP  THE  DOMINION 


a  rearrangement  takes  place  after  each  decennial  Census. 
The  average  population  to  each  representative  is  22,688.  In 
this  way  was  settled  tne  point  for  which  Greorge  Brown  had 
so  strenuously  struggled,  and  the  influence  of  French  Canada 
— if  united  from  a  racial  point  of  view — was  left  to  depend 
upon  its  comparative  population,  and  not  upon  the  arbitrary 
equality  of  representation  created  by  the  Act  of  Union  in 
1841.  Fortunately  for  the  new  Dominion,  a  division  along 
racial  lines  has  only  occasionally  taken  place,  and  never  in 
the  form  of  fractious  hostility  to  which  politicians  of  the 
earlier  period  and  the  lesser  Union  were  too  well  accustomed. 


■ 


CHAPTEK   XVIII 

COMPLETING    CONFEDERATION 

THE  bringing  together  of  the  old  and  historic  Provinces 
of  Upper  and  Lower  Canada,  Nova  Scotia,  and  New 
Br-vinswick  in  a  federal  bond  was  a  difficult  and  im- 
portant task,  and  enough  in  itself  to  constitute  the  life-work 
of  a  statesman.  To  complete  this  union  by  the  acquisition  of 
the  great  Northwest,  and  of  prairies  and  mountains  stretching 
in  millions  of  square  miles  to  the  far  Pacific,  was  a  work 
which,  in  national  possibilities,  was  even  greater.  It  must 
be  remembered,  in  estimating  the  importance  of  any  one  man 
in  connection  with  what  may  be  termed  the  making  of  Can- 
ada, that  it  was  the  good  fortune  and  the  statecraft  of  Sir 
John  Macdonald  which  enabled  him  not  only  to  have  the 
largest  popular  place  and  the  chief  constructive  share  in  the 
confederation  of  the  older  Provinces,  but  also,  as  Prime  Min- 
ister, to  preside  over  the  admission  of  Manitoba,  the  forma- 
tion of  the  North-West  Territories,  and  the  admission  of  Brit- 
ish Columbia  and  Prince  Edward  Island. 

THE   STATECEAFT   OF   SIR   JOHN   MACDONALD 

In  addition  to  this,  it  was  his  privilege  to  watch  over  and 
guide  the  early  operation  of  the  new  constitution  and  to  influ- 


COMPLETING    CONFEDERA  TION 


287 


9nee  the  later  creation  of  a  sincere  and  powerful  national 
sentiment — without  which  Confederation  was  simply  a  struct- 
ure built  on  shifting  sand.  None  of  these  stages  in  expan- 
sion or  progress  was,  however,  of  easy  attainment.  Each 
had  to  be  beaten  off  the  anvil  of  the  fates  with  fire  and  hard 
labor. 

It  could  not  have  been  without  a  shade  of  sympathetic  re- 
gret that  the  thoughtful  observer,  toward  the  end  of  the  six- 
ties, should  have  witnessed  the  approaching  fall  of  the  Hud- 
son's Bay  Company  as  a  great  land  power,  and  its  probable 
subsidence  into  the  humdrum  existence  of  a  mere  trading 
corporation  under  constitutional  control.  Its  history  had 
been  a  great  and  romantic  one,  and,  though  marred  by  occa- 
sional acts  of  violence,  or  folly,  had  upon  the  whole  been  of 
service  to  the  Empire's  expansion  and  commerce,  and  a  con- 
siderable addition  to  its  store  of  great  traditions.  It  was  in 
1862  that  the  first  overt  steps  had  been  taken  by  the  Prov- 
ince of  Canada  to  acquire  the  Northwest ;  it  was  on  the  9th 
of  March,  1869,  that  the  final  arrangements  were  concluded 
between  the  two  Governments  and  the  Company.  Between 
this  date  and  the  actual  transfer  of  the  territory,  however, 
there  intervened  a  period  of  trouble  and  perplexity,  of  insur- 
rection and  murder. 

THE   KIEL   REBELLION   OF    ISYO 

The  history  of  the  Kiel  Rebellion  of  1870  is  a  regrettable 
page  in  Canadian  annals  and  seems  to  indicate  a  lack  of  im- 
agination on  the  part  of  the  Canadian  Government  in  dealing 
with  a  sensitive  and  ignorant  population  of  whom  little  was 
known  by  any  one  in  authority,  except  it  were  the  Hudson's 
Bay  Company  people.  The  latter  do  not  seem  to  have  shown 
any  active  interest  in  matters  once  the  sale  was  actually  con- 
summated and  their  £300,000  assured.  Imagination  is,  in 
statesmanship,  an  all-essential,  though  not  always  recognized, 
factor,  and  it  was  not  usually  lacking  in  the  policy  of  Sir 
John  Macdonald.  But  on  this  occasion  no  one  appears  to 
have  folio  vved  the  sound  principle  of  putting  themselves  in 


288 


THE  STORY   OF   THE   DOMINION 


other  peoples'  places  and  imagining  for  a  brief  period  what 
the  feelings  of  the  Metis,  or  Half-breeds  of  the  Red  River, 
would  be  upon  hearing  of  the  proposed  transfer  of  their 
territory. 

They  were  uneducated,  could  not  speak  English,  knew 
nothing  of  copstitutional  government  or  even  what  it  meant, 
were  isolated  in  the  extreme,  did  not  understand  the  relations 
held  by  the  Company,  the  British  Government,  and  the  Ca- 
nadian authorities  toward  each  other,  and  were,  therefore,  the 
easy  victims  of  deception,  the  facile  instruments  of  any  vain 
or  corrupt  agitator  who  might  rise  to  the  surface  of  affairs 
at  a  critical  juncture.  Judgment  long  after  an  event,  when 
based  upon  new  conditions  and  changed  ideas,  is  always  easy 
and  unfair,  but  in  this  case  it  would  really  soem  as  if  the  ten 
or  twelve  thousand  people,  scattered  throughout  the  region 
now  known  as  Manitoba,  should  have  received  some  official 
notification  and  personal  explanation  of  the  policy  of  union 
with  Canada,  its  actual  causes,  and  probable  effects.  They 
had  never  asked  to  be  included  in  the  Dominion  and  were 
quite  content  under  the  open  and  paternal  government  of  the 
Company.  They  now  heard  rumors  of  impending  change  and 
all  the  flying  gossip  of  a  scattered  and  suspicious  population ; 
while  they  saw  with  their  own  eyes  the  corps  of  surveyors 
and  road-makers  who  so  unwisely  preceded  the  authorities  and 
even  the  actual  transfer.  It  is  little  wonder,  therefore,  that 
though  the  Selkirk  settlers  and  most  of  the  English-speaking 
people  held  aloof  in  the  assurance  that  nothing  very  serious 
could  happen  to  them  under  the  new  regime,  the  more  primi- 
tive and  less  placid  Half-breeds  shifted  in  restless  alarm  and 
presently  caught  fire  under  the  unscrupulous  appeals  of 
Louis  Riel. 


CHAEACTEB  OF  LOUIS  EIEL 


Like  many  men  born  to  lead  in  civil  strife,  or  to  effect 
objects  of  a  socialistic  or  anarchistic  nature,  Riel  had  a  vein 
of  madness  in  his  mind.  It  was  not,  in  any  true  sense  of  the 
word,  insanity,  nor  does  there  appear  to  have  ever  been  seri- 


COMPLETING   CONFEDERATION 


289 


oiis  grounds  for  supposing  him  incapable  of  controlling  his  own 
actions.  It  was  the  madness  of  intense  egotism  and  vanity, 
developed  by  other  characteristics  into  a  cool,  calculating,  un- 
scrupulous ambition.  Tl  e  son  of  a  white  father  and  a  Half- 
breed  mother,  he  had  been  educated  in  Montreal  for  the  Eo- 
man  Catholic  priesthood,  but  returned  to  Fort  Garry  without 
really  taking  Orders.  His  early  surroundings  had  given  him 
physical  vigor,  his  education  in  Montreal  had  given  him  fair 
scholarship,  his  French  and  Indian  blood  had  given  him  a 
curious  mixture  of  qualities  in  which  oratorical  facility  and 
indifference  to  the  shedding  of  blood  were  prominent.  In 
many  respects,  therefore,  he  was  fitted  to  be  a  leader  of  the 
people  at  the  Red  River,  and  into  this  position  he  at  once 
leaped.  Moderation  at  this  juncture  would  have  made  him 
a  great  and  useful  figure  in  the  hearts  and  history  of  his 
countrymen  and  have  enabled  him  to  prepare  them  peacefully 
for  a  union  of  which  he  must  have  clearly  understood  the 
nature.  And  he  might  afterward  have  taken  a  high  political 
place  in  the  Province,  and,  perhaps,  in  the  Dominion. 

Encouraged,  however,  by  a  vague  knowledge  of  Papineau*s 
day  of  power  in  French  Canada ;  believing  that  Fort  Garry 
was  too  far  away  and  the  Canadian  people  too  indifferent  to 
risk  serious  interference ;  hoping  from  the  opinions  of  Ameri- 
can residents  at  Fort  Garry  that,  if  there  was  trouble,  the 
United  States  would  intervene;  inspired  by  a  passion  for 
notoriety  which  some  men  mistake  for  honest  ambition,  he 
drew  away  from  the  paths  of  moderation  and  determined  to 
found  a  new  republic  in  America.  In  the  earlier  stages  of 
the  movement  he  had  little  opposition  from  the  pure  white 
population  and  considerable  sympathy  from  the  American 
element  in  it.  The  English-speaking  settlers  explained  to 
Lieutenant-Colonel  Stoughton  Dennis,  who  came  to  them  as 
chief  of  the  newly  appoined  Governor's  staff,  that  they  had 
not  asked  for  this  new  Dominion  Government,  had  not  been 
consulted  in  the  transfer  of  their  territory,  and  did  not  pro- 
pose to  risk  either  their  homes,  or  their  lives,  or  their  old- 
time  friendships  in  opposing  Riel  and  his  Half-breed  fol- 

X>OMI2«ON 13 


290 


THE   STORY   OF    THE   DOMINION 


lowers.  If  there  was  to  be  a  conflict — in  which  the  Indians 
would  probably  take  part — let  the  Dominion,  they  said,  es- 
tablish among  them  that  Government  which  it  had  decided 
upon  without  their  opinion  being  asked  and  they  would  obey 
the  laws  and  be  good  subjects.  Until  the  new  system  was  es- 
tablished, however,  they  would  take  no  risks.  To  this  not 
altogether  unreasonable  attitude  there  were  exceptions,  in- 
creasing as  time  went  on  and  as  the  position  of  Kiel  became 
more  violent  and  aggressive.  These  exceptions  were  at  first 
largely  made  up  of  native  Canadians  under  the  leadership  of 
Dr.  (afterward  Sir)  John  Christian  Schultr^  a  pioneer  in  the 
trade  and  development  of  the  country. 

It  had  been  announced  that  on  December  1,  1869,  the  new 
territory  would  be  formally  transferred  to  Canada,  and,  in  the 
meantime,  the  Hon.  William  McDougall,  who  had  taken  a 
prominent  part  in  the  earlier  negotiations  at  London  and  the 
Parliamentary  discussions  at  Ottawa,  was  appointed  a  sort  of 
Provisional  Governor  of  an  unorganized  territory.  He  was 
sent  up  in  the  late  autumn  to  arrLnge  the  new  constitutional 
system  and  to  take  over  the  administration  of  the  region  from 
the  Hudson's  Bay  Company.  There  was,  of  course,  no  rail- 
way connection  at  that  time  with  the  West  except  by  way  of 
United  States  territory,  and  the  first  overt  act  of  rebellion  oc- 
curred on  October  21st,  when,  under  the  inspiring  eloquence  of 
Kiel  and  the  influence  of  his  vigorous  misrepresentations,  an 
armed  Half-breed  force  took  possession  of  the  highway  lead- 
ing from  the  International  border  to  Fort  Garry,  and  over 
which  the  new  Governor  would  have  to  pass.  He  was  told  he 
could  not  come  beyond  the  frontier,  and,  finally,  when  he 
attempted  to  make  the  journey,  was  forced  by  the  rebels  to 
leave  British  territory  and  to  retire  to  Pembina,  in  the  State 
of  Dakota. 

Kiel  now  took  further  active  measures.  On  !N"ovember  3d 
he  led  a  force  into  Fort  Garry,  dispossessed  the  Hudson's  Bay 
Company  and  laughed  at  their  protests;  issued  a  manifesto 
stating  that  a  popular  Convention  would  be  called  to  settle  the 
government  of  the  country ;  published  a  rebel  paper  named  the 


BT!H ; ' 


COMPLETING   CONFEDERATION 


291 


"New  Nation,"  and  got  practically  all  the  military  stores 
available;  formed,  early  in  January,  1870,  a  Provisional 
Government  of  which  he  was  President,  a  clever  Irishman 
named  O'Donoghiie,  Secretary-Treasurer,  and  Ambrose  Le- 
pine,  the  best  military  head  among  the  rebels  of  the  moment, 
Adjutant-General.  Meanwhile,  Mr.  McDougall  made  the  se- 
rious mistake  of  believing  that  the  intended  legal  transfer  of 
the  territory  had  actually  taken  place  on  December  1st  and 
of  issuing  what  purported  to  be  a  Eoyal  Proclamation  dealing 
with  the  existing  situation.  When  it  was  found  that  the  trans- 
fer had  not  really  occurred  this  document  only  served  to  in- 
tensify the  complication  and  to  make  McDougall's  position 
untenable  as  well  as  intolerable.  There  was  nothing  for  him 
to  do  but  return  home.  Then,  Dr.  Schultz  formed  a  body 
of  half-armed  Canadians  to  defy  the  rebel  Government,  and 
after  a  brave  resistance  was  overpowered  and  imprisoned  at 
Fort  Garry  with  all  his  followers.  The  details  of  his  pri- 
vations there,  the  imminent  risk  of  death  as  a  warning  to 
others  in  the  Settlement  which  he  is  known  to  have  been  in, 
his  escape  through  the  help  of  a  sick  wife  and  by  the  aid  of 
a  smuggled  file,  his  climb  over  high  walls  with  an  injilred 
leg,  and  his  journey  through  gi*eat  drifts  of  snow  and  in  a 
bewildering  storm  to  a  place  of  partial  safety,  read  like  part 
of  "ome  romance  of  another  age.  Still  more  interesting  was 
his  subsequent  journey  on  foot  and  snowshoe  over  seven  thou- 
sand miles  of  solitude,  snow,  and  frozen  rivers  to  Duluth, 
in  the  United  States,  where  the  tall,  gaunt,  and  emaciated 
figure  of  the  weary  and  starving  Canadian  commanded  gen- 
eral sympathy.  After  a  brief  rest  he  journeyed  by  train  to 
Ontario,  and  there  speedily  aroused  the  public  to  a  sense  of 
the  real  state  of  affairs  and  the  necessity  of  strong  and  active 
interference  if  the  great  country  of  the  West  was  to  be  held 
by  the  Dominion. 

But  a  good  many  things  happened  before,  or  during,  this 
period.  Donald  A.  Smith  arrived  at  Fort  Garry  as  a  special 
Commissioner  of  the  Dol union  Government,  and  the  future 
Lord  Strathcona  and  Mount  Royal  exercised  in  his  negotia- 


.'a* 


292 


THE  STORY  OF   THE  DOMINION 


tions  a  high  degree  of  tact  and  conciliation.  Eventually,  he 
persuaded  Kiel  to  call  his  promised  Convention  to  consider 
the  future  condition  of  the  country.  It  met  on  January  25, 
1870,  and  passed  a  Bill  of  Rights  formulating  the  demands 
of  the  Half-breeds,  which  Mr.  Smith  undertook  to  submit  to 
the  Ottawa  Government.  At  the  same  time  he  asked  for  the 
appointment  of  Delegates  to  accompany  him  to  the  Dominion 
capital.  This  was  duly  done  and  all  might  have  possibly 
gone  well  had  not  the  Scott  murder  taken  place  soon  after. 
At  Kildonan,  not  far  from  Fort  Garry,  a  meeting  of  Loyalists 
was  being  held  and  a  son  of  John  Sutherland — afterward  a 
Senator  of  Canada — was  shot  dead  by  one  of  Kiel's  spies  as 
the  latter  was  trying  to  escape  from  the  gathering.  On  their 
way  home  from  the  meeting  some  of  the  otb'^r  Loyalists  were 
captured,  and,  among  them,  a  young  Canadian  named  Thomas 
Scott.  He  was  a  man  of  excellent  character  and  an  Orange- 
man, and  this  latter  fact,  no  doubt,  had  something  to  do  in 
further  inflaming  the  ignorant  minds  of  the  Half-breeds.  De- 
spite the  protests  of  Mr.  Smith  and  the  intercession  of  some  of 
the  French  priests,  he  was  shot  by  order  of  Kiel  on  March 
4th,  after  a  court-martial,  which  was  the  veriest  travesty  of 
justice. 

WARLIKE  PREPARATIONS 

Of  course,  nothing  could  now  be  done  by  conciliation,  al- 
though Bishop  Tache  returned  from  Rome  soon  afterward 
and  exercised  his  wide  influence  in  preventing  any  more  ebul- 
litions of  similar  violence.  The  murder  of  Scott  aroused  On- 
tario, where  Schultz  had  just  arrived,  and  all  the  Govern- 
ments concerned — British,  Canadian,  and  Provincial — saw 
that  effective  and  immediate  steps  must  be  taken  to  suppress 
the  rising.  An  expeditionary  force  was  at  once  arranged 
under  command  of  Colonel  (afterward  Field  Marshal,  Vis- 
count) Wolseley,  who  was  then  at  the  head  of  some  regular 
troops  in  Ontario.  It  was  composed  of  the  1st  Battalion  of 
the  GOth  Rifles,  350  strong,  with  twenty  men  of  the  Royal 
Artillery  and  four  seven-pounder  guns,  twenty  men  of  the 


^;- 


COMPLETING   CONFEDERATION 


29S 


Royal  Engineers,  and  siiitable  Hospital  and  Service  corps — 
making  in  all  400  regular  troops.  Two  Battalions  of  Militia 
from  Ontario  and  Quebec  under  Lieutenant-Colonels  S.  P. 
Jarvis  and  L.  A.  Casault,  making  TOO  more  men,  were  read- 
\\^  obtained  as  volunteers.  In  May,  1870,  this  force  left 
Toronto  to  pass  over  more  than  a  thousand  miles  of  wilderness 
and  broken  water-stretches  and  to  endure  much  of  hard- 
ship and  severe  labor.  At  Sault  Ste.  Marie,  owing  to  Ameri- 
can regulations  and  the  refusal  to  allow  British  armed  troops 
upon  the  soil  of  the  United  States,  the  expedition  had  to  leave 
its  boats  and  carry  all  supplies  and  effects  three  miles  around 
the  rapids  on  the  Canadian  side — where,  at  the  end  of  the 
century,  is  to  be  found  a  canal  which  eclipses  that  of  the 
Americans. 

On  August  24th,  amid  rain  and  gloom,  the  expedition  made 
its  way  up  the  Red  River  and  found  itself  nearing  the  scene 
of  rebellion.  Filled  with  thoughts  of  conflict  and  hope  of 
brilliant  success,  the  men  were  greatly  disappointed,  as  sol- 
diers, to  find  that  Riel  had  fled  like  his  earlier  predecessors, 
Papineau  and  Mackenzie,  and  had  left  them  merely  the  skin 
of  a  squeezed  orange.  From  every  other  standpoint,  however, 
than  that  of  the  ambitious  soldier,  or  hopeful  volunteer,  the 
result  was  for  the  best,  and,  with  Colonel  Wolseley's  march 
into  Fort  Garry,  the  insurrection  closed  without  leaving  any 
seriously  bitter  memories  behind  save  those  surrounding  the 
sad  death  of  young  Scott.  Mr.  Donald  A.  Smith  was  called 
upon  by  the  Military  Commander  to  assume  control  of  civil 
matters  until  the  new  Lieutenant-Governor  could  arrive  and 
the  constitution  be  formally  inaugurated  along  the  line  of 
Mr.  Howe's  instructions  to  Governor  McDougall  many  months 
before.* 

This  policy — which  might  have  averted  the  insurrection 
had  it  been  properly  placed  before  all  the  people  of  the  Set- 
tlement at  an  earlier  period — included  the  declaration  that 
civil  and  religious  liberties  and  the  privileges  of  the  whole 

*  Letter  from  the  Secretary  of  State  at  Ottawa,  dated  7th  December, 
1869,  but  not  made  public  until  January  20,  1870. 


\ 


\: 


294 


THE   STORY   OF   THE   DOMINION 


population  would  be  sacredly  preserved ;  that  properties, 
rights,  and  equities,  as  enjoyed  under  the  Company's  rule, 
would  be  maintained ;  that  a  liberal  system  in  the  granting  of 
titles  to  land  now  occupied  by  settlers  would  be  pursued ;  that 
all  classes  of  the  residents  would  be  fully  and  fairly  repre- 
sented in  the  Government;  that  municipal  self-government 
would  be  at  once  established  and  the  country  ruled  by  a  con- 
stitution based  upon  British  laws  and  precedents  and  prac- 
tices. On  July  15,  1870,  the  Province  was  duly  constituted 
by  Royal  and  Parliamentary  enactment  with  Mr.  (after- 
ward Sir)  Adams  G.  Archibald  as  its  first  Lieutenant-Gov- 
ernor.* An  Executive  Council  of  not  less  than  five  persons 
was  to  be  appointed,  with  a  Legislative  Council  of  seven  mem- 
bers, which  was  to  be  increased  to  twelve  after  four  years,  and 
a  Legislative  Assembly  of  twenty-four  members,  elected  to 
represent  certain  electoral  districts  as  constituted  by  the  Lieu- 
tenant-Governor. The  duration  of  the  Legislature  and  its 
functions  were  to  be  controlled  by  the  same  provisions  as 
applied  in  the  British  North  America  Act  to  the  other  Prov- 
inces. Either  the  French  or  English  language  could  be  used 
in  debates  and  official  records.  It  may  be  added  that  the  Leg- 
islative Council  was  abolished  in  1876,  and  that  the  number 
of  members  in  the  Assembly  was  afterward  raised  to  forty. 
The  first  organized  Ministry  in  the  infant  Province  was 
constituted  on  September  16,  1870,  with  the  Hon.  M.  A.  Gi- 
rard  as  Premier.  Of  the  characters  in  the  strife  which  pre- 
ceded this  constitutional  commencement  Louis  Kiel  vanished 
from  sight  for  a  few  years  of  restless  life  in  the  States  to  the 
south ;  Colonel  Wolseley,  after  coquetting  for  a  brief  moment 
with  the  Lieutenant-Governorship,  left  Canada  to  participate 
in  many  campaigns  and  become  Commander-in-Chief  of  the 
British  Army ;  Dr.  Schultz  went  into  politics  and  Parliament 
and  lived  to  be  Lieutenant-Governor  of  the  Province  in 
which  he  had  played  so  important  a  pi  )neer  part ;  Lieutenant- 
Colonels  Jarvis  and  Casault  were  decorated  with  the  C.  M.  G., 

•  Mr.  McDougall  was  simply  a  Govemor  of  unorganized  territories 
and  his  tenure  of  a  provisional  nature. 


COMPLETING    CONFEDERATION 


295 


and  the  former  rose  to  a  good  position  in  tlie  British  Army ; 
while  William  McDougall  lived  an  unsatisfactory  and  upon 
the  whole  unsuccessful  political  career  which  ended  with  de- 
feat in  his  candidature  for  Parliament  in  1882  and  1887. 
Meantime,  many  of  the  troops  settled  in  the  Province,  other 
settlers  came  as  a  result  of  liberal  land  laws  and  Manitoba 
began  to  slowly  and  steadily  progress. 

OTHER  PROVINCES   ENTER   CONFEDERATION 

On  July  20,  1871,  British  Columbia  entered  Confedera- 
tion, and  thus  followed  the  example  of  Manitoba — with  the 
difference  of  coming  in  peace  rather  than  in  conflict.  Its 
history,  up  to  this  time,  had  been  largely  one  of  mining  ex- 
citements and  of  Pludson's  Bay  Company  trade  and  govern- 
ment. In  1858,  it  had  been  made  a  distinct  colony  for  pur- 
poses of  administration  during  the  gold  discoveries  of  the 
period.  In  1866,  Vancouver  Island  and  the  Mainland  had 
been  united,  with  a  Lieutenant-Governor  and  a  Legislative 
Council — the  latter  passing  a  Resolution  favorable  to  Con- 
federation in  1867,  which  was  disapproved  of  by  its  Gov- 
ernor. On  January  29th  of  the  following  year  a  large  meet- 
ing was  held  in  Victoria,  and  a  movement  started  by  Amor 
de  Cosmos,  J.  F.  McCreight,  John  Robsoh,  Robert  Beaven, 
Hugh  Nelson,  H.  P.  P.  Crease,  and  other  afterward  promi- 
nent citizens,  to  bring  about  union  with  the  Dominion.  The 
chief  opponent  of  the  policy  was  Dr.  Ilelmcken,  who  seems 
to  have  had  a  strong  annexation  sentiment,  and  to  have  been 
supported  by  American  settlers  who  deemed  the  chief  interest 
of  the  Colony  to  be  with  the  States  to  the  south.  In  March, 
1870,  a  great  debate  took  place  in  the  Council,  and  a  favor- 
able Resolution  based  upon  arrangements  proposed  by  the 
new  Governor,  Mr.  Anthony  Musgrave,  was  carried.  Messrs. 
Helmcken,  Carrall,  and  J.  W.  Trutch  were  then  sent  to  Ot- 
tawa and  the  terms  finally  settled — the  principal  item  of  dis- 
cussion being  a  pledge  by  the  Dominion  Government  to  con- 
struct a  transcontinental  railway.  As  the  people  of  British 
Columbia  well  knew,  it  was  only  by  such  means  that  the  Prov- 


i 


296 


THE  STORY   OF   THE   DOMINION 


inoe  could  be  brought  into  the  Dominion  in  any  other  than 
the  barest  technical  and  territorial  sense. 

Thp  measure  was  hotly  debated  in  the  House  of  Commons 
at  Ottawa  })ecan8e  of  the  great  responsibilities  assumed  in 
the  proposed  railway  construction.  But  it  was  eventually 
carried,  and  there  came  into  the  now  giant-like  proportions 
of  the  Dominion  a  Province  whose  mountains  were  veined 
and  tunneled  with  gold  and  other  precious  metals;  whose 
vast  coal  preserves  were  destined  to  supply  the  whole  Pacific 
Slope;  whose  mighty  peaks  were  clothed  in  forests  from  the 
top  of  their  rugged  sides  to  the  rushing  rivers  at  the  bottom ; 
whose  streams  and  coast  waters  teemed  with  fish  or  sands  of 
gold ;  whose  fertile  acres  in  certain  sections  grew  some  of  the 
finest  fruits  known  to  the  world ;  whose  climate  is  a  boast  to 
its  people  and  a  pleasure  to  its  visitors. 

Since  1864,  when  the  Government  of  little  Prince  Edward 
Island  had  precipitated  the  varied  problems  of  all  the  Prov- 
inces into  a  common  melting-pot  through  its  proposal  to  Nova 
Scotia  and  New  Brunswick  to  discuss  a  maritime  union, 
trouble  and  perplexity  had  been  its  lot.  Its  Delegates  had 
participated  in  the  Conference  at  Quebec,  but  were  unable 
to  carry  the  Seventy-two  Resolutions  through  a  Legislature 
which,  by  twenty-three  votes  to  five,  declared  that  joining 
the  union  would  prove  "politically,  commercially,  and  finan- 
cially disastrous  to  the  rights  and  interests  of  its  people.'' 
Their  position  was,  indeed,  a  somewhat  peculiar  one.  With- 
out public  lands,  mines,  or  forests  they  had  nothing  to  sup- 
plement the  small  allowance  proposed  by  the  Dominion  Gov- 
ernment ;  while  the  insular  situation  of  the  Province  would, 
they  believed,  deprive  it  of  all  practical  share  in  Federal 
expenditures  upon  railways,  canals,  and  other  great  public 
works  to  which  they  would  have  to  contribute  a  due  propor- 
tion of  taxation.  They  would  also  be  overshadowed,  and  their 
place  in  Confederation,  it  was  claimed,  be  insignificant  and 
unenviable. 

By  1873,  however,  the  abrogation  of  the  Reciprocity  Treaty 
had  deprived  the  Province  of  what  had  been  its  best  market, 


COMPLETING    CONFEDERATION  ' 


297 


up  to  that  time,  and  had  ahnost  ruined  its  large  fishing  inter- 
ests. Exhausted  forests  had  killed  a  prosperous  shipbuilding 
trade,  and  railway  complications  had  arisen  which  involved 
the  Province  to  an  extent  beyond  its  means ;  while  the  failure 
to  effect  any  change  in  the  land-rent  system  of  the  Island 
seemed  to  indicate  that  this  vital  question  would  never  be 
settled  until  it  had  obtained  Dominion  backing  and  support. 
Early  in  1873,  therefore,  overtures  were  made  to  Ottawa,  and 
Messrs.  R.  P.  Haythorne  and  David  Laird  sent  as  Dele- 
gates to  try  and  make  arrangements.  After  repeated  discus- 
sions, terms  of  union  were  signed  by  Sir  John  Macdonald, 
the  Hon.  H.  L.  Langevin,  the  Hon.  Joseph  Howe,  and  the 
Hon.  Charles  Tupper  for  the  Dominion,  and  by  Messrs.  Hay- 
thorne and  Laird  for  the  Province.  After  a  general  election, 
in  which  the  arrangement  was  declared  unsatisfactory,  a 
change  of  local  Government  took  place,  and  Messrs.  J.  C. 
Pope,  T.  H.  Haviland,  and  G.  W.  Howlan  were  sent  to  Ot- 
tawa to  obtain  better  terms.  These  they  :&nally  got,  and,  on 
July  1,  1873,  the  Province  entered  Confederation.  The 
much  troubled  land  question  was  settled  by  an  Act  of  the 
Dominion  Parliament,  which  compelled  the  proprietors  of 
large  estates  to  accept  an  equitable  price  on  tho  award  of 
Arbitrators  chosen  by  the  Government,  the  landlords,  and  the 
tenants  respectively  —  the  purchase  money  being  paid  by 
funds  allowed  to  the  Province  under  the  terms  of  Confed- 
eration— and  the  lands  resold  to  the  people  at  cost  and  upon 
easy  terms  of  payment. 

While  this  process  of  expansion  was  going  on,  the  vast, 
unorganized,  and  almost  unknown  regions  between  Manitoba 
and  the  Rocky  Mountains,  and  between  the  borders  of  the 
United  States  and  the  Arctic  Ocean,  were  gradually  coming 
into  constitutional  form  and  shape  as  well  as  into  popular 
knowledge.  On  April  12,  1876,  Keewatin,  with  its  area  of 
756,000  square  miles,  was  organized  into  a  District  under  the 
jurisdiction  of  the  Lieutenant-Governor  of  Manitoba.  On 
May  17,  1882,  Assiniboia,  Saskatchewan,  Alberta,  and  Atha- 
basca, with  a  combined  area  of  over  500,000  square  miles, 


THE  STORV   OF  THE   DOMINION 


were  constituted  under  a  Lieutenant-Governor,  with  his  capi- 
tal at  Roginn,  and  with  institutions  which  slowly  developed 
until,  in  1898,  they  might  be  described  as  fully  self-govern- 
ing. A  Lieutenant-Governor  and  Crown-appointed  Council ; 
an  Advisory  Council,  and  four  members  chosen  from  an 
elected  Assembly  of  twenty-two  members ;  an  Executive  Coun- 
cil and  Legislative  Assembly  with  full  Provincial  powers, 
except  as  to  borrowing  money  and  controlling  Crown-lands; 
complete  responsible  government  in  1898,  were  the  various 
stages  in  this  progress.  Mr.  F.  W.  G.  Haultain  was  the  lead- 
ing figure  in  this  system  of  political  growth,  and  is  now 
(1900)  Premier  of  a  steadily  growing  population  in  what  is 
termed  the  North-West  Territories. 

Meanwhile,  on  October  2,  1895,  much  of  the  still  unorgan- 
ized far  northern  territory  of  over  a  million  square  miles  had 
been  formed  into  the  Districts  of  Mackenzie,  Ungava,  and 
Franklin,  and  placed  under  the  control  of  the  Regina  Gov- 
ernment. In  1897,  there  was  further  change,  and  the  Dis- 
trict of  Yukon  was  created  and  placed  under  the  same  juris- 
diction. As  the  blinding  glare  of  the  gold  discoveries  loomed 
above  the  horizon,  it  was,  however,  deemed  desirable  to  take 
this  region  under  Dominion  management,  and  on  June  13, 
1898,  this  was  done. 

So  far,  this  steady  expansion  of  the  new  Dominion  had  been 
great  and  successful.  The  amount  of  tactful  skill  and  po- 
litical diplomacy  required  for  such  varied  and  continuous 
negotiation  and  arrangement  can  be  only  estimated  from  this 
sketch  of  actual  evente.  But  it  is  not  difficult  to  read  be- 
tween the  lines,  and  to  see  how  much  of  care  and  anxiety  and 
labor  must  have  gone  into  the  completing  of  Confederation. 
The  Korth-West  troubles,  the  Indians,  the  railway  question 
of  the  West,  the  land  problem  of  the  island  garden  of  the 
Gulf  of  St.  Lawrence  were  only  a  few  of  the  more  prominent 
issues.  Sir  John  Macdonald,  however,  had  able  assistants 
in  Tupper  and  Tilley,  Rose  and  Hincks  and  Cartier,  and, 
although  mistakes  were  made,  it  is  well  to  fully  appreciate 
the  constructive  labor  and  skill  required  to  carry  out  the 


^mm 


r    COMPLETING    CONFEDERATION 


299 


all-important  political  and  constitutional  expansion  of  this 
period. 

SECESSION   MOVEMENT   IN   NOVA   SCOTIA 

One  great  difficulty  connected  with  an  original  Province 
of  the  Union  had  to  be  faced  and  disposed  of  in  1868-09. 
It  was  the  secession  movement  in  Nova  Scotia  which  was 
created,  guided,  and  controlled  by  Joseph  HoAve.  Indirectly 
connected  with  it  was  an  event  which  occurred  on  April  7, 
1868 — the  assassination  of  D'Arcy  McGee.  The  eloquent 
Irishman  who  had  done  so  much  to  bring  his  fellow-country- 
men into  support  and  sympathy  for  the  federal  principle  and 
its  subsequent  application,  and  whose  whole  later  career — with 
a  single  exception — had  been  one  of  conciliation  in  politics  as 
well  as  of  innate  courtesy  in  manner,  had  left  the  House  after 
delivering  a  bright  and  patriotic  speech  upon  the  desirability 
of  patience  and  kindly  treatment  in  connection  with  Nova 
Scotian  matters.  Ho  was  just  entering  his  own  door  when 
a  member  of  the  Fenian  Brotherhood  stepped  up  behind  and 
shot  him  dead.  The  exception  referred  to  had  been  the  Feni- 
ans, whom  he  greatly  detested,  of  whose  secrets  he  knew 
much,  and  who  had  thus  dogged  him  to  his  death.  Rewards 
amounting  to  $20,000  were  offered  for  the  capture  of  the 
murderer,  and,  finally,  a  man  named  Whelan  was  arrested, 
convicted,  and  hanged. 

Meanwhile,  repeal  of  the  Union  became  the  watchword 
of  Nova  Scotia,  the  clarion  call  of  Howe  and  his  associates. 
In  the  elections  following  Confederation,  Dr.  Tupper  had 
been  the  only  non-Repealer  elected  to  the  Commons,  while 
only  two  of  the  same  stripe  had  been  returned  to  the  Pro- 
vincial Assembly.  Howe  was  supreme  and  the  feeling  of  the 
people  was  extremely  bitter.  They  believed  they  had  been 
carried  into  the  Union  by  a  trick ;  they  knew  that  no  chance 
to  vote  upon  it  had  been  given  them.  Resolutions  were  passed 
by  the  Legislature  demanding  the  right  to  secede  and  Howe 
was  sent  Avith  a  Delegation  and  immense  petitions  to  lay  the 
matter  at  the  foot  of  the  Throne  and  to  use  every  influence 


I 


nil 


pSTH 


800 


THE  STORY  OF   THE  DOMINION 


of  persuasion  or  threat  to  induce  the  Imperial  Parliament  to 
grant  the  right  of  repeal.  To  London,  also,  went  Dr.  Tiipper 
by  request  of  Sir  John  Macdonald,  and  the  long-drawn  battle 
of  the  two  Provincial  leaders  was  thus  transferred  from  the 
small  arena  of  Nova  Scotia  to  the  Halls  of  Westminster. 

N^aturally  and  inevitably,  Howe  was  vanquished,  though 
he  had  the  ready  support  of  such  Little  Englanders  as  John 
Bright,  and  he  returned  home  with  nothing  before  him  but 
a  hopeless  rebellion  which  could  have  been  easily  stirred  up, 
or  the  acceptance  of  a  compromise  already  suggested  by  Dr. 
Tupper  and  under  which  the  Pro\ince  might  be  given  better 
terms.  The  fate  of  Nova  Scotia  was  more  truly  in  the  hol- 
low of  his  hand  than  had  ev«r  been  that  of  Lower  Canada 
in  the  grasp  of  Papineau.  Fortunately,  moderation  and  good 
sense  won  the  day,  assisted  by  a  visit  to  Halifax  of  Sir  John 
Macdonald,  Dr.  Tupper,  and  other  leaders.  The  result  was 
helped,  also,  by  the  sufferings  of  the  fisher-folk  from  a  very 
severe  season  and  by  the  money  and  provisions  which  poured 
into  the  affected  'districts  from  generous-minded  people  in 
the  other  Provinces.  In  the  end  matters  were  settled  quietly 
and  the  Dominion  Government  agreed  to  make  itself  respon- 
sible for  a  larger  portion  of  the  Provincial  debt,  to  pay  a 
yearly  subsidy  of  $82,698  -for  ten  years  and  to  render  com- 
pensation for  certain  losses  in  revenue  resulting  from  Con- 
federation. 

Howe  did  his  part  in  arranging  these  negotiations,  in  pa- 
triotically conciliating  the  people  to  the  new  and  inevitable 
conditions,  and  in  carrying  the  Province  for  the  settlement. 
He  even  took  a  seat  in  the  Dominion  Government  and  four 
years  later  accepted  the  Lieutenant-Governorship  of  his  na- 
tive Province  during  the  month  in  which  his  flame  of  life 
was  flickering  toward  extinction.  But  the  brightness  of  life 
had  left  him  with  the  loss  of  public  sympathy  and  personal 
affection  which  followed  upon  his  acceptance  of  Confedera- 
tion. The  strength  of  reason  and  necessity  might  lead  the 
people  of  Nova  Scotia  to  accept  and  politically  support  him 
in  the  change,  but  tbe  instinct  of  affection,  the  influence  of 


THE   TREATY   OF   WASHINGTON 


801 


heart  to  heart,  which  had  made  hira  their  idol  seemed  to  be 
gone  forever.  He  had  fallen  from  his  pedestal  in  the  minds 
of  the  people  and  no  amount  of  honest  belief  in  duty,  or 
the  sincere  consciousness  that  he  was  right,  appears  to  have 
availed  in  preserving  to  Howe  the  old  vigor  of  his  life  and 
action.  On  June  1,  1873,  this  extraordinary  man  passed 
away,  leaving  a  record  of  greatness  in  a  small  sphere  which 
makes  the  student  of  history  regret  that  the  wider  realms  of 
achievement  had  not  been  open  for  him  to  share  in  and  to 
wonder  what  high  place  he  might  have  attained  in  the  Do- 
minion, or  the  Empire,  had  not  that  fatal  mistake  of  opposing 
Confederation  been  originally  made. 


^f 


.•■v>!  ,■■:■■..>»  !1 


CHAPTEK  XIX 

THE  TREATY  OF  WASHINGTON 

FOLLOWLN^G  the  abrogation  of  the  Reciprocity  Treaty 
in  1866,  there  had  been  for  some  years  no  definite 
arrangement  with  the  United  States  respecting  either 
fisheries  or  trade,  and  this  had  given  a  natural  impetus  to 
chances  of  international  complication  and  trouble.  The  feel- 
ing between  the  two  countries  was  distinctly  unfriendly,  as 
was  to  be  expected  from  the  deliberate  action  of  the  United 
States  in  refusing  to  continue  or  even  discuss  reciprocity; 
from  its  slack  policy  concerning  the  Fenian  raids  and  the 
frequent  expression  of  a  desire  by  the  Republic  to  acquire 
possession  of  the  Provinces;  from  the  general  belief  in  the 
United  States  that  British  America  had  sympathized  ^vith 
the  South  in  the  Civil  War  and  should  be  made  responsible, 
in  some  way,  for  this  as  well  as  for  the  alleged  unfriendly 
policy  of  Engip.nd  at  the  same  juncture. 

ATTEMPTS  TO  EENEW  THE  EECIPROCITY  TREATY 

Attempts  were  made  on  the  part  of  the  British  Provinces 
in  1866  and  1869 — two  years  after  Confederation — to  renew 


502 


THE   STORY    OF   THE   DOMINION 


the  Reciprocity  Treaty,  and  when,  finally,  the  Alabama 
Claims  dispute  precipitated  matters  at  issue  between  Great 
Britain  and  the  Republic  it  was  hoped  and  believed  in  Can- 
ada that  the  High  Joint  Commission  which  was  appointed 
early  in  1871  to  try  and  arrange  a  treaty  of  peace  and  set- 
tlement, would  include  in  the  desired  result  a  consideration 
of  trade  questions  and  Fenian  raid  indemnities  as  well  as  of 
the  fishery  difficulties  on  the  Atlantic  which  had  recently 
developed.  The  Commissioners  included  Sir  Stafford  !N"orth- 
cote.  Earl  de  Grey  and  Ripon,  Sir  John  Macdonald  and  Mr. 
Hamilton  Fish,  Secretary  of  State  for  the  Republic. 

These  were  the  men  who  chiefly  molded  the  policy  and  con- 
trolled the  details  of  the  negotiations.  Sir  S.  Northcote,  who 
died  twenty  years  later  as  Earl  of  Iddesleigh  and  a  most  re- 
spected Conservative  leader,  was,  even  at  this  time,  a  well- 
known  figure  in  politics.  But  he  owed  his  appointment  on 
this  Commission  primarily  to  a  diplomatic  desire  on  the  part 
of  the  Gladstone  Government  to  hold  in  check  possible  future 
criticism  by  the  Opposition.  Earl  de  Grey,  who  afterward 
became  Viceroy  of  India  and  Marquess  of  Ripon,  was  a  man 
of  high  character  and  attainments,  but  Avithout  any  strong 
Imperial  sentiment.  He  was  tinctured,  in  fact,  with  the 
Manchester  School  feeling  of  that  time,  that  Colonies,  what- 
ever their  value,  were  not  worth  the  final  arbitrament  of  a 
great  war.  u-^.  •>';  ^''^-^^.^-y;'  ::■   -- 'V    :?"^^  .••,;,=  .'*;:   y:-^  -v. '  r;-, 

A   DIFFICULT    POSITION 

It  must  have  been,  and  we  know  now  it  was,  with  a  heavy 
and  doubtful  heart  that  Sir  John  Macdonald  accepted  on 
behalf  of  Canada  a  place  among  British  Commissioners  con- 
trolled by  such  conditions,  and  by  the  very  slightly  disguised 
hope  on  the  part  of  their  own  Government  that  they  would 
bring  back  a  Treaty  of  some  kind  and  even  at  great  sacrifice. 
The  full  details  of  these  memorable  negotiations  were  not 
known  at  the  time,  and  had  to  be  concealed  even  when  the 
Canadian  Premier  and  High  Commissioner  stood  before  the 
bar  of  his  own  Parliament  in  defence  of  the  Treaty,  and 


THE   TREATY  OF    WASHINGTON 


SOS 


of  himself,  ard  made  one  of  the  great  speer^hes  of  his  political 
life.  What  he  had  to  contend  with  in  the  Conference  from 
iineiipected  indifference  on  the  part  of  the  other  British  Com- 
missioners, or  from  expected  hostility  on  the  part  of  its  Amer- 
ican members,  we  now  understand  from  his  private  corre- 
spondence with  the  members  of  thr  Canadian  Government,  as 
published  in  Mr.  Pope's  "Memoirs"  in  1894.  At  the  formal 
meetings  of  the  Commission  and  in  the  more  frequent  infor- 
mal gatherings  of  its  members  he  stood  for  Canadian  rights 
and  for  justice  to  Canadian  interests. 

Reciprocity  in  trade  or  tariffs  it  was  soon  found  impossible 
to  attain,  and  this  was,  of  course,  a  matter  in  which  Great 
Britain  was  not  directly  concerned  and  which  the  United 
States  had  a  perfect  right  to  discuss  or  not  as  pleased  it. 
But  the  Fenian  raids  indemnity  was  a  different  thing.  Can- 
ada had  suffered  much  in  the  alarm  of  its  citizens,  in  tfie 
death  of  its  brave  sons  defending  their  soil  against  wanton 
aggression,  in  the  temporary  paralysis  of  business,  in  the  ex- 
penditure of  millions  of  money.  There  was  absolutely  no 
doubt  as  to  the  indifference  displayed  by  American  authori- 
ties regarding  the  invasion  and  as  to  all  the  preliminary  drill- 
ing and  arrangements  extending  over  many  months  of  loud- 
tongued  preparation.  There  was  no  doubt,  also,  of  its  respon- 
sibility in  a  national  sense  for  the  injury  thus  done  to  a 
friendly  neighbor — an  injury  as  great  in  comparison  with 
population  and  wealth  as  that  of  the  Alabama  to  United 
States  interests.  „:  . .  _         .; — . .         .  •  ■  :: 

In  the  earlier  negotiations  for  a  treaty  the  Fenian  raids 
had  been  referred  to  by  the  Canadian  Government  and  the 
hope  expressed  that  its  claims  against  the  United  States  for 
"negligence  and  want  of  due  diligence"  in  connection  with 
the  invasion  would  be  considered  and  adjusted  at  the  pro- 
posed Conference.  The  Imperial  Government  agreed  to  this, 
but,  owing  to  the  indefinite  phraseology  of  the  correspondence 
which  followed  with  the  Republic,  the  High  Commissioners 
for  the  United  States  refused  to  have  anything  to  do  with 
the  subject  when  the  Commission  finally  met  at  Washington. 


304 


THE  STOEY  OF   THE   DOMINION 


They  declared  that  the  matter  did  not  come  within  the  scope 
of  the  original  communication  of  the  British  Minister,  and 
added,  in  words  quite  comprehensible  to  those  who  under- 
stood the  influence  of  the  Irish  vote  in  American  politics,  that 
"the  claims  did  not  commend  themselves  to  their  favor."  The 
end  of  it  all  was  that  the  British  Government  assented  to 
their  exclusion  from  the  consideration  of  the  High  Commis- 
sion and  eventually  consented  to  guarantee  a  loan  of  $2,500,- 
000  for  the  construction  of  the  Inter-Colonial  Railway  and 
as  an  indemnity  to  Canada  for  its  losses  in  the  raids. 

The  chief  Canadian  question  before  the  Commission  was 
that  of  the  Atlantic  Fisheries,  and  it  was  this,  also,  which 
caused  the  most  trouble  to  England  and  alarm  to  the  British 
Commissioners.  Upon  the  Alabama  Claims  they  had  prac- 
tically resolved  to  surrender  before  meeting  in  conference  at 
all,  and  the  problem  was  merely  how  to  lower  the  bill  of  dam- 
ages and  keep  it  within  reason.  But  when  it  came  to  the 
Canadian  question  both  the  British  Government  and  the  Com- 
missioners found  that  they  had  to  deal  with  the  Dominion, 
and,  especially,  ^vith  its  keen  and  vigorous  representative  upon 
the  Commission.  There  was  need  of  a  strong  defensive  hand 
in  the  matter.  The  Americans  knew  what  they  wanted,  and 
very  soon  came  to  know,  also,  the  weakness  of  their  foreign 
colleagues  and  to  play  with  diplomatic  adroitness  upon  the 
British  desire  for  peace  and  entire  misapprehension  of  the 
character  of  United  States  politics.  ? 

DISCUSSION  OF  THE  FISHERIES  QUESTION 

The  issue  turned  upon  the  interpretation  of  existing  Trea- 
ties and  seems  to  have  been  a  very  clear  one  in  reality.  In 
1783  the  Treaty  of  Versailles,  or  Paris,  recognized  certain 
privileges  regarding  the  fishing  of  American  citizens  in  Cana- 
dian or  British  waters.  When  the  value  of  the  Atlantic 
fisheries  became  better  known  disputes  arose  and  the  Treaty 
of  Ghent  after  the  War  of  1812  did  not  attempt  to  dispose 
of  these  controversies  as  to  the  interpretation  of  the  preced- 
ing Treaty.  Great  Britain  afterward  took  the  ground  that  the 


THE   TREATY  OF    WASHINGTON 


805 


war  had  abrogated  all  American  rights  whatever  excepting 
those  of  international  courtesy,  and,  during  the  years  1815, 
1816,  and  1817,  a  number  of  American  vessels  were  seized 
for  attempting  to  assert  the  claim  to  privileges  granted  by 
the  original  Treaty. 

Various  negotiations  were  held,  and,  finally,  the  Conven- 
tion of  1818  was  signed  at  London  on  October  20th,  by  which 
Great  Britain  granted  the  liberty  to  fish  in  certain  defined 
waters  and  to  dry  and  cure  fish  at  certain  specified  places, 
in  return  for  a  renunciation  "forever,"  by  the  United  States, 
of  the  right  to  fish  within  three  marine  miles  of  any  of  the 
coasts,  bays,  creeks,  or  harbors  not  included  in  the  specified 
waters.  No  language  could  be  more  clear  than  the  terms  of 
this  Treaty,  yet,  during  succeeding  years,  frequent  attempts 
were  made — some  by  violence — to  infringe  its  conditions  and 
to  make  free  use  of  the  fisheries.  Various  vessels  were 
seized  and  much  irritation  caused.  Then  came  the  Reciprocity 
Treaty  of  1854  by  which  the  inshore  fisheries  were  thrown 
open  to  Americans  in  return  for  the  free  exchange  of  the 
natural  products  of  the  Provinces  and  the  Republic.  The 
abrogation  of  the  Treaty  in  1866  threw  the  British  Govern- 
ment back  upon  the  arrangement  of  1818,  made  the  equip- 
ment of  a  marine  protective  force  necessary  and  renewed  the 
precedent  condition  of  irritation — despite  an  attempt  to  com- 
promise the  matter,  by  an  issue  of  licenses  under  the  jurisdic- 
tion of  the  new  Dominion,  which  failed  owing  to  the  refusal 
of  the  American  fishermen  to  accept  either  leave  or  license  and 
their  evident  determination  to  fish  by  force. 

The  only  thing  Canada  could  now  do  was  to  assert  its  rights 
under  the  Convention  of  1818,  and,  accordingly,  the  license 
system  was  done  away  with,  after  consultation  with  the  Im- 
perial Government,  and  a  small  fleet  of  cruisers  was  prepared 
and  chartered  in  1870  for  the  defence  of  the  fisheries.  Colli- 
sions followed,  more  American  vessels  were  seized,  angry 
diplomatic  notes  went  from  Washington  to  London,  the  Amer- 
ican press  stormed  at  Canada,  and,  at  the  time  of  the  meeting 
of  the  High  Commission,  events  seemed  to  be  pressing  toward 


806 


THE  STORY   OF  THE  DOMINION 


i 


a  warlike  solution.  All  through  th  >  ensuing  deliberations 
there  were,  on  the  part  of  the  British  Commissioners,  evi- 
dences of  fear  that  if  the  issue  was  not  settled  by  a  treaty 
some  such  result  would  follow.  Sir  John  Macdonald's  pri- 
vate letters*  to  Sir  Charles  Tupper  and  Sir  John  Rose  and 
Sir  George  Cartier  teem  with  references  to  the  situation  thus 
created  and  to  the  lack  of  backbone  in  his  British  colleagues. 
Upon  one  occasion,  Lord  de  Grey  informed  him  that  "he  be- 
lieved it  was  the  general  impression  in  England,  and,  espe- 
cially, of  the  Government,  that  the  danger  was  great  and 
pressing."  Again,  some  days  later,  he  writes  that  Lord  de 
Grey  had  told  him  several  times  that  "if  this  attempt  should 
fail  no  peaceable  solution  is  possible." 

There  was  a  certain  amount  of  excuse  for  the  attitude  of 
the  British  Commissioners.  They  represented  the  Gladstone 
Government,  which  was  at  this  very  time  allowing  Russia  to 
tear  up  the  Black  Sea  Treaty  and  to  destroy  the  chief  fruits 
of  the  Crimean  struggle — a  Government  also  which  was  no- 
toriously fearful  of  all  war  and  was  the  embodiment  of  the 
peace  at  any  price  and  Manchester  School  theories.  They 
represented  a  feeling  which  was  then  dominant  in  England 
and  which  did  not  understand  the  value  of  the  Colonies  to 
Great  Britain  and  disliked  all  responsibilites  of  an  Imperial 
character.  They  did  not  comprehend  American  methods  and 
character,  and,  when  President  Grant  in  December,  1870, 
wrote  a  Message  to  Congress  which  practically  threatened 
war  if  the  questions  at  issue  were  not  settled,  they  regarded 
it  with  the  same  seriousness  as  they  would  a  similar  document 
presented  to  Parliament  by  the  Queen  with  the  approval  of 
her  Ministers.  The  irresponsibility  of  the  President  in  such 
matters  and  the  inter-play  of  American  politics  and  diplomacy 
were  not  as  clearly  comprehended  as  they  are  to-day. 

Other  questions  at  issue  besides  the  Atlantic  fisheries  were 
the  boundaries  of  Alaska  and  the  ownership  of  the  Island  of 
San  Juan  under  the  terms  of  the  Oregon  Treaty.    They  may 


•  "Memoirs"  of  Sir  John  A.  Macdonald,  bj  Joseph  Pope,  Ottawa,  1894. 


THE    TREATY    OF    WASHINGTON 


807 


be  disposed  of  at  once  by  saying  that  the  former  was  dealt 
with  in  the  new  Treaty  in  such  an  indefinite  manner  as  not 
to  dispose  of  it  and  that  the  latter  was  given  into  the  hands 
of  the  German  Emperor,  William  I,  as  Arbitrator,  who  dis- 
posed of  it  very  effectually  in  December,  1872,  by  giving  the 
Island  to  the  United  States.  By  the  Oregon  Treaty  of  1846 
the  United  States  had  received  the  splendid  region  of  the 
Puget  Sound  and  the  present  States  of  Oregon  and  Washing- 
ton. The  boundary  line  was  to  run  along  the  49th  parallel 
"to  the  middle  of  the  channel  which  separates  the  continent 
from  Vancouver  Island  and  thence  southerly  through  the  mid- 
dle of  said  channel,  and  of  the  Fuca  Straits,  to  the  Pacific 
Ocean."  The  dispute  of  the  ensuing  period,  which  resulted 
in  a  joint  military  occupation  of  San  Juan  Island  and  more 
than  once  brought  the  Empire  and  the  Republic  to  tlie  verge 
of  war,  turned  upon  the  fact  that  there  was  not  one,  but  three, 
channels,  and  that  upon  the  question  of  which  channel  should 
be  selected  as  the  dividing  line  depended  the  ownership  of 
this  island  which  guarded  the  front  of  American  territory 
on  these  waters  and  faced  the  British  Provincial  capital — 
Victoria.  Great  Britain  claimed  the  most  southerly  of  these 
channels,  but  was  willing  to  accept  the  middle  one  as  a  just 
and  reasonable  compromise.  For  some  inscrutable  reason, 
best  known  to  himself,  the  Imperial  Arbitrator  accepted  the 
American  claim.  r       -  r   • 

But  this  is  getting  far  ahead  of  the  Commissioners  as  they 
debated  and  battled  over  the  terms  of  the  proposed  Treaty, 
during  the  spring  of  1871,  in  the  private  and  political  halls 
of  Washington.  The  American  Government  and  Commis- 
sioners wanted  much.  They  desired  San  Juan  to  be  given  up 
to  them,  the  Fenian  raids  to  be  eliminated  from  consideration, 
the  Alaskan  boundary  to  be  adjusted  to  their  satisfaction, 
the  Atlantic  fisheries  to  be  thrown  open  to  them  for  all  time 
and  for  some  very  slight  consideration,  the  St.  Lawrence  and 
its  canals  to  be  made  free  forever.  These  things  were,  of 
course,  apart  from  their  enormous  claims  for  compensation 
from  Great  Britain  regarding  the  Alabama.     In  return  they 


806 


THE  STORY    OF   THE   DOMINION 


were  willing  to  give  peace  and  perhaps  free  fish  and  the 
navigation  of  Lake  Michigan.  What  Canada  eventually  ob- 
tained in  the  Treaty,  as  well  as  the  limitation  of  her  inevitable 
sacrifices,  may  be  seen  in  its  terms,  and  they  sufficiently  vin- 
dicate the  stand  taken  by  Sir  John  Macdonald,  while  showing 
how  great  the  difference  really  was  between  American  expec- 
tations and  American  realizations. 

THE   TERMS   OF  THE   TBEATY 

The  Treaty  of  Washington  was  signed  on  May  8,  1871. 
By  its  terms  the  Alabama  Claims  were  submitted  to  an  Ar- 
bitration tribunal,  which  met  at  Geneva  in  the  following 
year,  and  of  which  Sir  Alexander  Cockburn,  the  sturdy,  ag- 
gressive Lord  Chief  Justice  of  England,  was  a  prominent 
member.  By  its  decision,  against  which  Chief  Justice 
Cockburn  vigorously  protested,  the  sum  of  $15,500,000  was 
awarded  to  the  United  States  as  damages,  and  was  promptly 
paid  by  Great  Britain.  It  was  thought  by  many  at  the  time 
that  the  amount  was  too  large,  and  this  appears  to  have  been 
an  accurate  belief  from  the  fact  that  claimants  could  never 
be  found  for  a  portion  of  it,  and  have  not  been  found  yet. 
The  fisheries  question  was  settled  for  the  time  by  a  twelve- 
year  arrangement,  under  which  fish  and  fish-oil  were  to  be 
admitted  free  as  between  the  Dominion  and  the  States,  while 
each  was  to  share  freely  in  the  fisheries  of  the  other.  As 
the  Atlantic  fisheries  of  the  United  States  were  comparatively 
valueless  and  entirely  useless  to  the  Canadian  fishermen, 
while  those  of  Canada  were  rich  in  the  most  teeming  sense 
of  the  word,  it  was  decided — after  long  discussions  in  which 
the  American  Commissioners  very  properly  did  their  utmost 
to  minimize  the  value  of  what  they  were  striving  to  obtain 
—that  a  lump  sum  should  be  paid  the  Dominion,  and  that  the 
amount  of  this  payment  should  be  settled  by  another  special 
Commission.  It  may  be  added  here,  that  this  Commission  met 
at  Halifax  on  June  15, 1877,  after  prolonged  delay  on  the  part 
of  the  United  States.  The  British  and  Canadian  Commis- 
fiioner  was  Sir  Alexander  Tilloch  Gait,  and  Newfoundland 


rf  !• 


THE    TREATY   OF    WASHINGTON 


309 


and  Canada  were  finally  awarded  $5,500,000  as  the  value 
of  the  fishing  privileges  granted  the  United  States  in  1871 
over  and  above  the  reciprocal  clauses  of  the  Treaty.*  Pay- 
ment was  ultimately  made  after  vigorous  protests  from  Con- 
gress and  the  United  States  Government. 

By  the  Washington  Treaty  Americans  were  admitted  to 
the  navigation  of  the  St.  Lawrence  River  and  to  the  u^g  of 
the  canal  system  of  Canada  upon  equal  terms  with  British 
subjects,  and  under  the  same  conditions  as  the  latter  in  any 
tolls,  or  charges,  which  might  be  levied  by  the  Dominion 
Government.  They  were,  also,  allowed  the  privilege  of  tak- 
ing timber  from  the  Maine  woods  down  the  River  St.  John 
to  the  sea — a  most  important  matter  in  those  days.  Provision 
was  made  for  the  free  passage  of  goods  in  bond  through  either 
country.  This  was  an  arrangement  by  which  goods  from  one 
part  of  the  Republic  could  pass  over  Canadian  soil  to  another 
part  of  the  United  States  without  paying  duty  to  the  Cana- 
dian authorities,  and  by  which  Canadian  products  might 
have  a  similar  privilege  in  crossing  United  States  land  or 
water  territory.  It  was  a  most  serviceable  and  beneficial 
arrangement  to  both  countries  in  general,  and  to  their  trans- 
portation interests  in  particular.  The  navigation  of  Lake 
Michigan  was  also  made  free  for  twelve  years,  but,  as  the 
St.  Lawrence  was  throvvm  open  forever,  it  has  never  since 
been  seriously  suggested  that  this  clause  could  be  anything 
but  a  practically  permanent  one.  A  most  important  item  in 
the  Treaty,  and  one  which  reflects  credit  upon  Sir  John 
Macdonald,  was  the  recognition  of  Canada's  right,  under  the 
Anglo-Russian  arrangement  of  1825,  to  share  in  the  free 
navigation  of  the  Yukon,  Porcupine,  and  Stikine  Rivers  in 
Alaska.  Had  the  future  been  fully  foreseen,  it  is  to  be 
feared  that  the  fight  over  this  clause  would  have  been  much 
keener  than  it  was.  The  St.  Clair  Canal  and  Flats,  between 
Lakes  Huron  and  Erie,  were  also  thrown  open  to  both  nations. 

Such  was  the  Washington  Treaty  in  brief.     Bom  of  the 

•  The  Dominion  received  $4,490,882  of  this  amount — not  the  whole  of 
it,  as  is  usually  stated.    Newfoundland  obtained  the  balance. 


I 


SIO 


THE   STORY   OF   THE   DOMINION 


travail  of  possible  war  and  continuous  and  bitter  controversy  j 
discussed  with  a  million  soldiers  in  the  United  States  ready 
for  any  service  or  adventure,  and  amid  the  clamors  of  a  dis- 
contented and  angry  Fenian  element  in  the  same  country; 
arranged  by  British  Commissioners  who  were  responsible  to 
a  weak-kneed  Government  and  an  electorate  still  controlled 
by  the  anti-Colonial  school  of  thought,  it  was,  upon  the  whole, 
better  for  Canada  than  might  have  been  expected.  Nothing 
of  serious  import  was  given  away,  and  no  national  or  terri- 
torial right  was  sacrificed.  It  is  true  that  San  Juan  was  lost, 
but,  as  neither  England  nor  Canada  can  apparently  expect  to 
win  in  a  foreign  Arbitration,  the  matter  might  well  have  been 
discounted.  In  any  case,  it  was  not  worth  the  other  arbitra- 
ment of  war.  Nearly  $5,000,000  in  money  was  obtained  for 
the  use  of  the  fisheries,  and,  although  the  clauses  dealing  with 
this  part  of  the  subject  were  abrogated  by  the  United  States 
in  1885,  that  action  was  not  without  its  compensation  in  the 
practical  recovery  of  Canadian  fishing  grounds  for  Canadian 
fishermen.  '^'' 

To  Sir  John  Macdonald  the  negotiations  were  a  nightmare 
of  diplomacy.  He  expected  to  fight  vigorously  against  the 
American  Commissioners,  and  to  find  in  them  the  keenest 
and  wariest  of  antagonists.  They  were  on  their  own  ground, 
with  a  President  and  Senate  which  would  back  up  a  strong 
and  aggressive  policy,  and  they  were  contending  for  enhanced 
influence  and  power  for  their  own  x)eople  upon  the  American 
continent.  But  to  have  to  struggle  against  his  ov^n  British' 
colleagues,  as  well  as  the  American  Commissioners,  was  to 
Sir  John  a  continuous  irritation  and  a  very  heavy  burden  to 
his  heart.  "In  our  separate  caucuses,"  he  wrote,  on  one  oc- 
casion, to  Dr.  Tupper,  "my  colleagues  were  continually  press- 
ing me  to  yield."  They  even  supported  the  American  desire 
for  a  permanent  cession  of  the  fisheries.  He  described  the 
discussions  with  them  as  being  "warm,"  or  "unpleasant," 
and  wrote  once  of  being  obliged  to  tell  Lord  de  Grey  that 
"I  believed  I  knew  what  my  duty  was  and  would  endeavor 
to  perform  it."     He  had  to  tell  them  plainly  on  another  occa- 


THE   TREATY   OF    WASHINGTON 


311 


sion*  that  "it  was  intolerable  that  those  New  England  fisher- 
men should  say  they  were  resolved  to  fish  in  our  waters, 
right  or  wrong,  and  if  not  allowed  would  force  on  a  war 
between  the  two  nations;  and  we  ought  not  to  sacrifice  our 
property  by  reason  of  such  threats." 

Several  times  his  protests  were  sent  to  England,  and  ulti- 
mately made  good;  several  times  ho  was  on  the  point  of  re- 
signing. One  of  these  occasions  was  when  the  cable  came 
from  London  authorizing  a  reference  of  the  value  of  the  fish- 
eries to  arbitration.  Fortunately,  he  did  not  do  so,  and 
wrote  afterward  to  Dr.  Tupper  that  had  he  left  the  Commis- 
sion then  the  lease  of  the  fisheries  would  have  been  for 
twenty-five  years  and  fish-oil  would  have  been  excluded  from 
free  interchange.  Finally,  he  felt  the  whole  matter  so  bit- 
terly that  he  hoped  to  avoid  signing  the  Treaty,  and  thus  to 
throw  the  responsibility  where  it  belonged.  But  the  protests 
were  so  strong  and  the  reasons  so  apparent  that  he  did  not 
eventually  do  so.  Without  his  signature  the  Treaty  would 
probably  not  have  passed  the  American  Senate,  and  could  cer- 
tainly not  have  been  carried  at  Ottawa.  Once  it  was  signed 
by  him  he  assumed  the  fullest  responsibility ;  uttered  not  one 
complaint  in  all  the  twenty  years  of  his  further  public  life ; 
and  suffered  a  most  unjust  share  of  obloquy  in  Canada  for  its 
acceptance.  ■  .  ,1,      ' 

HOW  THE   TREATY   WAS   RECEIVED   IN    CANADA 

When  Sir  John  arrived  home  from  Washington  he  received 
a  perfect  storm  of  censure  from  the  Opi^osition  press.  He 
was  declared  a  traitor  to  Canadian  interests,  and  a  Judas 
Iscariot  and  Benedict  Arnold  combined  in  one.  Parliament 
was  not  to  meet  until  the  succeeding  February,  and  for  nearly 
a  year  the  Premier  endured  this  unstinted  abuse  in  perfect 
silence.  Of  course,  neither  the  people  at  large,  nor  the  Op- 
position, nor  his  own  followers,  knew,  or  ever  did  know,  the 
truth  about  the  Commission.  That  has  awaited  his  death 
and  the  consideration  of  another  generation.      Had  it  been 

,  •  Letter  to  Sir  George  Cartier,  April  17,  1871.    Pope's  "Memoirs." 


' 


312 


THE   STORY   OF   THE   DOMINION 


any  other  man  he  could  not  have  overcome  the  situation. 
But  Sir  John's  personality,  popularity,  and  the  sense  of  the 
inevitable  carried  the  Treaty  through  Parliament  in  the 
spring  of  1872.  The  speech  delivered  by  the  Premier  was 
memorable  for  an  eloquence  which  was  not  an  ordinary  char- 
acteristic of  the  man,  and  for  a  degree  of  earnestness  and 
force  which  carried  the  second  reading  by  121  to  55.  His 
chief  argument  consisted  of  the  fact  that  while  Canada  was 
making  some  sacrifices  in  accepting  the  arrangement,  yet  she 
was  making  them  for  the  sake  of  the  Empire  and  its  future 
friendly  relations  with  the  United  States.  ■ 

In  the  elections  which  followed  shortly  afterward  the 
Treaty  had  a  considerable  place  and  was  the  chief  ground 
of  attack  upon  the  Government.  "I  had,"  wrote  Sir  John 
to  Lord  Monck,  the  Governor-General,  "to  fight  a  stern  and 
uphill  battle  in  Ontario.  I  never  worked  so  hard  before 
and  never  shall  do  so  again,  but  I  felt  it  to  be  necessary 
this  time.  I  did  not  want  a  verdict  against  the  Treaty  from 
the  country."  The  elections  were  won,  but  he  always  be- 
lieved that  a  rankling  dissatisfaction  in  the  popular  mind  con- 
tributed greatly  to  Ins  defeat  in  those  of  1874.  The  Treaty, 
however,  was  now  a  fact  of  history,  the  Alabama  troubles  had 
been  settled,  the  fisheries  were  removed  for  some  years  from 
their  place  as  a  serious  international  irritant,  the  fear  of 
conflict  on  the  British  Columbia  borders  was  eliminated  and 
the  past  relations  of  the  Empire  and  the  Republic  during 
the  Civil  War  were  left  to  the  cooling  influence  of  time, 
and  the  soothing  process  of  partial  forgetfulness. 


n  I : .  -t'-ut  i. 


CHAPTER  XX 

POLITICAL    QUESTIONS    AND    DEVELOPMENT 

THE  growth  and  progress  of  a  country  does  not  always 
appear  on  the  broad  surface  of  affairs  or  in  the  discus- 
sion and  settlement  of  what  are  called  great  public  ques- 
tions. These  latter  mark  outwardly  the  inward  development 
and  are  useful  also  as  educative  influences  upon  the  people, 


m 


POLITICAL   QUESTIONS   AND   DEVELOPMENT       318 

or  in  some  cases  as  evidences  of  popular  influence  upon  the 
politicians.  Especially  true  is  this  conclusion  in  connection 
with  the  first  working  years  of  a  new  Constitution. 

A   WIDER   AND    WIDENING    COMMONWEALTH 

When  Canada  put  on  the  Federal  garb  in  1867  fresh  con- 
ditions were  faced,  now  problems  were  presented,  important 
controversies  wore  imminent.  It  was  hoped,  however,  that 
the  teapot  troubles  of  restricted  states,  the  occasionally  fan- 
tastic fancies  of  isolated  colonies,  would  be  merged  in  the 
larger  affairs  of  a  wider  and  widening  commonwealth.  In 
great  part  this  hope  was  realized.  The  jealousies  of  Quebec 
and  Ontario*  were  modified  to  a  degree  which  removed  the 
element  of  danger  and  enabled  them  to  work  togethrr  with 
comfort  and  effectiveness.  The  isolation  and  inevitabl  lar- 
rowness  of  view  in  the  Maritime  Provinces  were  grad^  y 
ameliorated  under  wider  political  conditions  and  iinp<  t 
national  issues.  The  crudeness,  the  violence,  the  bigotry  of 
politics  in  the  Canadas  were  modified  by  the  redistribution 
of  parties  and  the  change  in  party  lines  brought  about  by 
Sir  John  A.  Macdonald's  policy  of  conciliation  and  tact. 

Before  Confederation  he  had  labored  for  the  harmonizing 
of  extreme  Tories  with  moderate  Conservatives,  of  French- 
Canadian  moderates,  or  followers  of  Lafontaine,  with  Upper 
Canadian  Liberals  of  moderate  views  who  had  once  followed 
Baldwin,  into  a  great  party  to  which  he  eventually  gave  the 
somewhat  clumsy  title  of  Liberal-Conservative.  In  some 
measure  he  had  succeeded  and  would  Lave  done  so  in  a  far 
wider  and  more  effective  manner  had  not  the  rivalry  of 
French  and  English  opinion,  of  Lower  and  Upper  Canada, 
been  for  the  time  hopelessly  violent.     Confederation,  how- 

*  From  the  time  of  the  Act  of  1791  to  the  Union  of  1841  these  two 
Provinces  were  termed  Lower  and  Upper  Canada  respectively;  from  the 
Union  until  Confederation  they  were  officially,  if  not  popularly,  called 
Canada  East  and  Canada  West;  by  the  Act  of  Confederation  in  1867  they 
were  given  their  present  aiid  permanent  names — the  word  "Canada" 
being  used  to  cover  the  new  Dominion  then  created  and  within  five  years 
to  include  all  British  North  Aiaerica  except  Newfoundland. 

DOMINION — lA 


314 


THE  STORY  OF   THE   DOMINION 


ever,  came  and  with  it  the  opportunity  to  develop  his  large 
views  in  practical  form  and  to  give  his  party  an  important 
place  upon  a  really  national  canvas. 

THE    FIRST    CABINET    OF    THE   DOMINION 

The  first  Cabinet  of  the  Dominion  was,  in  accordance  with 
this  policy  of  assimilation,  composed  in  equal  parts  of  men 
who  had  been  at  one  time  either  Liberals  or  Conservatives. 
In  support  of  his  Government  he  was  able,  by  virtue  of  con- 
ciliation and  calculation,  to  combine  the  large  majority  of 
French  Canadians  and  to  give  an  impetus  to  Conservative 
sentiment  in  that  Province  which  lasted  for  fully  twenty 
years. 

The  Ministry  was  termed  a  coalition,  but  George  Brown, 
as  leader  of  the  Upper  Canada  Liberals,  would  have  nothing 
to  do  with  the  new  "Sir  John"  any  more  than  he  would  with 
the  old  "John  A."*     His  aggressive,  uncompromising  will 
would  brook  no  superior  in  council,  or  even  an  equal,  and 
though  compelled  for  a  brief  space  to  co-operate  with  Mac- 
donald  in  the  Cabinet  which  helped  to  arrange  the  terms  of 
Confederation,  he  left  it  as  soon  as  possible  and  resumed  the 
old  terms  of  personal  non-intercourse  with  the  only  man 
whom  he  deemed  a  rival.    In  his  refusal  to  accept  the  Fed- 
eral Cabinet  of  1867  as  a  representative  coalition  Brown 
wus  joined  by  Mr.  A.  A.  Dorion  and  a  few  of  the  old-time 
Liberal  leaders  of  Quebec  and  the  nucleus  of  a  present  Op- 
position in  Parliament  and  of  a  future  Dominion  Liberal 
party  was  thus  formed. 

Of  course,  Sir  John  Macdonald  never  intended  his  Min- 
istry to  be  a  real  coalition  or  to  remain  for  long  as  even  a 
nominal  one.  His  intention  was  lo  form  all  parties  and 
public  men,  who  might  be  available,  into  a  strong,  united 

*  During  the  years  stretching  from  his  entry  into  public  life  in  the 
early  "Forties"  until  Confederation,  when  the  Queen  made  him  a  K.C.B., 
M:^.  Macdonald  was  known  far  and  wide  as  "John  A.,"  and  with  every 
year  the  affectionate  popular  appellation  grew  in  use.  After  his  Knight- 
hood there  was  only  one  "Sir  John"  from  the  Atlantic  to  the  Pacmc. 
The  ournams  was  superfluous. 


■u 


the 
.B., 
irery 
ht. 

;ftc. 


POLITICAL   QUESTIONS   AND   DEVELOPMENT       316 

organization  capable  of  carrying  on  the  Government  with  a 
firm  hand,  of  maintaining  defined  and  vigorous  principles,  of 
preventing  any  more  such  experiences  of  weakness  and  ineffi- 
ciency as  had  preceded  Confederation,  of  harmonizing  hostile 
elements  which  would  otherwise  drift  further  apart  and  en- 
danger the  successful  working  of  the  new  constitution,  of 
affording  scope  for  the  exercise  of  his  own  powers  of  leader- 
ship and  government.  Within  a  comparatively  short  time 
his  policy  was  successful,  and,  despite  Liberal  Conventions 
and  George  Brown's  desperate  efforts  in  the  Toronto 
"Globe,"  the  Conservative  party  became  a  compact  organiza- 
tion with  the  Prim©  Minister  as  practically  its  head  and 
front  and  platform. 

The  first  Cabinet  of  the  new  Dominion  was  made  up  very 
largely  of  men  who  had  worked  energetically  for  Confed- 
eration and  who,  therefore,  deserved  consideration  at  the 
hands  of  tbo  incoming  Premier.  It  was  not  easy  to  arrange 
it,  and  the  mere  fact,  as  stated  in  Canadian  historical  works, 
that  a  Government  was  formed  on  July  1,  1867,  by  Sir 
John  Macdonald  with  a  specified  list  of  colleagues,  affords 
little  Lint  of  the  difficulties  he  really  had  to  encounter.  That 
of  a  surplus  of  available  men  is  not  an  unusual  condition 
in  such  cases  and  may  be  passed  over  with  the  statement 
that  the  exclusion  of  Dr.  Tupper  and  D'Arcy  McGee  has 
always  seemed  a  curious  one — the  details  not  being  generally 
known  then  or  since.  The  necessity,  however,  of  giving  each 
Province  proper  representation,  of  leaving  room  for  the  ad- 
mission of  representatives  from  Manitoba  and  Prince  Edward 
Island  and  British  Columbia,  of  granting  the  Irish  electorate 
a  certain  consideration  and  of  recognizing  the  Protestants 
of  the  Eastern  Townships  of  Quebec,  was  the  rock  upon 
which  the  nebulous  Cabinet  nearly  came  to  wreck  in  the 
week  preceding  July  1st.*  Eventually,  this  result  was  avoided 
by  Dr.   Tupper  and  his  friend  McGee  retiring  from  the 

*  Information  given  to  the  author  by  Sir  Charles  Tupper  and  other 
survivors  of  the  Confederation  period. 


816 


THE  STORY  OF  THE  DOMINION 


"slate"  on  which  they  had,  of  course,  been  among  the  first 
to  receive  a  place  and  thus  making  it  possible  to  give  the 
French-Canadians  another  representative.  The  Ministry  was 
as  follows  and  was  sustained  at  the  ensuing  elections  by  a 
fair  majority: 

Sib  John  A.  Macdonald,  Premier  and  Minister  of  Justice, 

Hon.  a.  T.  Galt,  Minister  of  Finance, 

Hon.  William  MoDougall,  Minister  of  Public  Works, 

Sib  G.  E.  Cabtieb,  Minister  of  Militia  and  Defence, 

Hon.  S.  L.  Tilley,  Minister  of  Customs, 

Hon.  J.  C.  Chapais,  Minister  of  Agriculture, 

Hon.  Alexandeb  Campbell,  Postmaster-Oeneral, 

Hon.  Peteb  Mitchell,  Minister  of  Marine  and  Fisheries, 

Hon.  W.  p.  Howland,  Minister  of  Inland  Revenue, 

Hon.  a.  J.  Febgusson-Blaib,  President  of  the  Council, 

Hon.  Edwabd  Kenny,  Receiver-General, 

Hon.  H.  L.  Langkvin,  Secretary  of  State, 

Hon.  a    G.  Abchibalb,  Secretary  of  State  for  the  Provinces. 

Of  these  members  Macdonald,  Gait,  Cartier,  Campbell, 
Langevin,  Chapais,  and  Kenny  had  been  Conservatives,  and 
McDougall,  Tilley,  Mitchell,  Howland,  Archibald,  and  Fer- 
gusson-Blair  Liberals—  -under  previous  Provincial  conditions. 
Many  of  the  latter,  indeed,  continued  for  some  time  to 
call  themselves  by  the  old  name  and  to  consider  their  Min- 
istry as  a  coalition.  The  events  of  the  decade  following  the 
formation  of  this  administration  were  all-important  in  the 
making  of  Canada.  Those  which  stand  out  most  prominently, 
with  one  exception,  were  the  bringing  in  of  the  outstanding 
Provinces,  the  insurrection  in  the  North-West,  the  Washing- 
ton Treaty,  and  the  developments  leading  up  to  the  National 
Policy.  They  have  been  dealt  with  elsewhere  in  these  pages. 
The  exception  was  largely  a  political  occurrence,  but  one 
which  exercised  a  wide  influence  over  the  future  policy  of 
tho  Dominion — the  Canadian  Pacific  Kailway  issue  of  1872, 
which  is  described  by  Liberal  partisans  as  a  scandal  and  by 
Conservative  partisans  as  a  slander.  It  was  in  reality  some- 
thing of  the  one  and  something  of  the  other.  And,  amid 
all  these  public  issues  and  problems  the  vital  work  of  na- 
tional organization  went  steadily  on. 

General  elections  took  place  in  1872  and  the  Government 


mt 


POLITICAL    QUESTIONS   AND    DEVELOPMENT       317 

of  Sir  John  Macdonald  was  sustained,  though  with  a  reduced 
majority.  Reverses  had  been  met  with  in  Quebec  and  On- 
tario, owing  partly  to  the  fact  that  Sir  George  Cartier'a 
failing  health  led  to  mistakes  in  the  management  of  matters 
in  the  former  Province  and  partly  to  the  unpopularity  of 
the  Washington  Treaty  in  the  latter.  Much  fear  was  also 
felt  and  expressed  as  to  the  cost  of  the  proposed  Canadian 
Pacific  Railway.  Nova  Scotia  and  New  Brunswick,  however, 
made  up  for  other  losses  by  the  most  sweeping  Conservative 
success.  In  Nova  Scotia,  owing  to  the  wonderful  influence 
of  Howe — even  when  the  personal  regard  of  the  people  for 
him  had  greatly  changed — there  was  but  one  member  re- 
turned in  opposition  to  the  Union  Government,  where,  in 
1867,  with  him  on  the  one  side,  there  had  beeli  only  one 
elected  in  its  favor.  Much,  of  course,  was  due  to  the  fact 
that  Howe  and  Tupper  were  now  working  together.  In  this 
year  the  Earl  of  Duiferin  came  out  as  Governor-General  to 
fill  a  viceroyalty  memorable  for  his  personal  tact  and  un- 
failing courtesy,  for  his  eloquence  and  popularity,  and  as 
being  the  foundation  of  a  career  of  steadily  growing  diplo- 
matic reputation  and  power.  Incidentally,  Canadian  riflemen 
in  competition  with  the  crack  shots  of  Great  Britain  had 
captured  the  Kolapore  Cup  at  Wimbledon. 

THE    TRANS-CONTINENTAL    EAILWAT    PROJECT 

But  the  great  event  of  the  year  in  Canada  was  Sir  John 
Macdonald's  attempt  to  carry  out  the  Federal  pledge  to  Brit- 
ish Columbia  regarding  the  proposed  trans-continental  rail- 
way. He  interested  a  number  of  capitalists  in  the  project, 
but  they,  unfortunately,  formed  two  distinct  Companies  for 
the  purpose  of  constructing  the  road  under  contract.  They 
obtained  incorporation  and  inaugurated  a  fierce  rivalry  in 
Parliament  and  the  press.  The  Inter-Oceanic  Company  of 
Toronto  had  Mr.  (afterward  Sir)  D.  L.  McPherson  as  its 
President,  and  men  such  as  the  Hon.  William  McMaater,  the 
Hon.  Frank  Smith,  and  the  Hon.  G.  W.  Allan,  of  Toronto. 
Senator  Simpson  of  Bowanville,  the  Hon.  Isidore  Thibaudeau 


818 


THE  STORY   OF   THE   DOMINION 


and  David  Torrance  of  Montreal,  the  Hon.  John  Carling  of 
London,  Casimir  S.  Gzowski  of  Toronto,  John  Boyd  of  St. 
John,  and  Senator  Price  of  Quebec,  upon  its  Directorate. 
Sir  Hugh  Allan,  the  leader  of  many  transportation  interests 
and  a  capitalist  of  keen  energy  and  enterprise,  was  President 
of  the  Canada-Pacific  Company  of  Montreal,  with  men  of 
the  calibre  and  standing  of  the  Hon.  (afterward  Sir)  J.  J. 
C.  Abbott,  the  Hon.  John  Hamilton,  the  Hon.  C.  J.  Coursol, 
and  the  Hon.  J.  L.  Beaudry  of  Montreal,  the  Hon.  James 
Skead  of  Ottawa,  the  Hon.  J.  J.  Ross  of  Quebec,  the  Hon. 
Donald  A.  Smith  (now  Lord  Strathcona  and  Mount  Royal), 
Sir  Edward  Kenny  of  Halifax,  Donald  Mclnnes  of  Hamilton, 
and  C.  F.  Gildersleeve  of  Kingston,  upon  his  Directorate. 

The  measure  upon  which  this  rivalry  was  based  bad  been 
introduced  in  Parliament  by  Sir  George  E.  Cartier  on  April 
26,  1872,  as  a  Bill  for  the  construction,  under  charter,  of  the 
Canadian  Pacific  Railway,  which  was  to  extend  "from  some 
point  on,  or  near.  Lake  Nipissing  to  some  point  on  the  shore 
of  the  Pacific  Ocean."  A  grant  of  50,000,000  acres  was  to 
be  given  in  blocks  of  twenty  miles  in  depth  on  each  side  of 
the  line  of  the  railway  in  Manitoba,  the  North-West  Terri- 
tories, and  British  Columbia,  and  alternating  with  similar 
blocks  held  by  the  Dominion  Government  for  sale  or  grant. 
A  cash  subsidy  of  not  more  than  $30,000,000  was  also  to  be 
granted.  The  measure  passed  on  May  28th  after  several 
amendments  moved  by  Messrs.  Edward  Blake,  A.  A.  Dorion, 
and  Alexander  Mackenzie,  on  behalf  of  the  Liberal  party,  had 
been  voted  down.  During  the  debates  upon  this  question,  in 
connection  with  the  admission  of  British  Columbia  in  1871 
and  in  this  Session  of  1872,  the  Opposition  laid  strenuous 
stress  upon  the  work  as  being  altogether  beyond  the  resources 
of  Canada  and  dwelt  constantly  upon  the  frightful  burdens  of 
taxation  which  it  would  involve.  One  leader  said  it  could 
never  pay  for  the  axle-grease  upon  its  wheels,  and  Mr.  Blake 
in  a  famous  speech  declared  that  British  Columbia  was  only 
a  "sea  of  mountains,"  and  therefore  hardly  worth  so  great  a 
sacrifice. 


POLITICAL    QUESTIONS   AND   DEVELOPMENT       319 

The  Bill  passed,  however,  and  then  came  the  delicate  and 
difficult  task  of  bringing  together  the  rival  interests  of  the 
capitalists,  in  one  strong  corporation,  for  its  construction. 
The  Companies  had  been  originally  formed  as  a  result  of  Sir 
John  Macdonald's  private  efforts  to  interest  Canadian  men 
of  money  in  the  matter  in  preference  to  allowing  the  contract 
to  drop  into  the  open  hands  of  American  capitalists,  who  had 
early  expressed  their  willingness  to  take  hold  of  the  enterprise. 
Sir  Hugh  Allan,  however,  had  at  once  communicated  with  the 
Americans,  and,  although  their  names  did  not  appear  upon  his 
Directorate,  it  was  well  known  that  if  he  were  successful  in 
obtaining  the  contract  their  interest  would  be  a  predominant 
one.  Mr.  McPherson,  on  the  other  hand,  had  formed  a  Com- 
pany which  was  purely  Canadian.  The  hope  of  the  Govern- 
ment, in  such  a  difficulty,  was  the  combination  of  the  two  con- 
cerns in  such  a  way  as  not  to  absolutely  exclude  American 
capital  while  preventing  it  from  obtaining  a  dominant  influ- 
ence in  the  matter.  Moreover,  Sir  Hugh  Allan  was  too  impor- 
tant a  man,  too  experienced  in  transportation  affairs,  and  had 
been  too  generous  to  the  party  which  Sir  John  Macdonald  led, 
to  make  it  desirable  to  put  him  entirely  aside.  It  was  at 
this  juncture  that  the  general  elections  of  18Y2  took  place 
and  what  was  afterward  termed  the  Pacific  scandal  occurred. 
Following  the  elections  and  as  a  result  of  the  apparent  im- 
possibility of  bringing  the  two  Companies  together — largely 
because  Sir  Hugh  >.\llan  and  Mr.  McPherson  each  desired  to 
be  President  of  the  consolidated  concern — the  charter  was 
eventually  given  to  a  new  Company  with  Sir  Hugh  Allan 
at  its  head.  Then  the  greatest  political  storm  in  Canadian 
history  burst  upon  the  country. 

THE  PACIFIC  RAILWAY  CHARGES 

On  April  2,  1873,  amid  suppressed  excitement  and  in  an 
atmosphere  laden  with  the  hopes  and  fears  of  political  elec- 
tricity, Mr.  Lucius  Seth  Huntington  rose  in  the  House  of 
Commons  with  a  statement  and  motion  of  serious  import. 
He  was  a  good  speaker  and  a  politician  of  some  ability  who 


E;  ■  t 


320 


THE  STOBY  OF  THE  DOMINION 


had  been  a  member  of  Sandfield  Macdonald'a  Government  in 
the  early  "sixties"  and  was  destined  to  hold  a  place  in  the  next 
Dominion  Cabinet.  The  charge  he  made  was  dramatic  in 
style  and  solemn  in  substance.  It  meant  that  the  Govern- 
ment had  trafficked  with  foreigners  in  connection  with  Cana- 
dian railway  interests  and  in  order  to  obtain  money  to  de- 
bauch the  constituencies  in  the  elections  of  1872.  Stripped 
of  verbiage,  it  declared  that  Sir  Hugh  Allan,  acting  for  Amer- 
ican capitalists,  had  practically  obtained  the  Pacific  charter 
for  them  and  himself  through  the  contribution  of  large  sums 
of  money  to  the  Conservative  campaign  fund  and  that  this 
money  had  been  obtained  from  the  United  States  capitalists 
referred  to  through  a  man  named  G.  W.  McMuUen.  For  the 
moment  Mr.  Huntington  offered  no  proofs,  but  '^  :manded  the 
appointment  of  a  Committee  of  the  House  to  inquire  into  the 
whole  matter  of  the  Railway  charter.  Upon  motion  of  Sir 
John  Macdonald  a  Select  Committee  composed  of  Messrs.  J. 
G.  Blauchet,  Edward  Blake,  A.  A.  Dorion,  James  McDonald, 
and  John  Hillyard  Cameron — three  Conservatives  and  two 
Liberals — ^was  promptly  appointed.  A  measure  was  also 
passed  to  enable  the  Committee  to  make  its  inquiries  from 
witnesses  imder  oath. 

Parliament  then  adjourned  to  13th  August,  when  it  was 
thought  that  the  Committee's  Report  might  be  received. 
Meanwhile,  the  Oaths  Bill  was  disallowed  in  London  as  being 
illegal  and  the  work  of  the  Committee  rendered  practically 
impossible.  A  tremendous  sensation  was  also  created  and  a 
new  turn  given  to  the  whole  question  by  the  publication  of 
a  series  of  letters  and  telegrams  in  Montreal  which  seemed 
to  clearly  indicate  the  guilt  of  the  Ministry.  Mr.  McMullen, 
it  was  afterward  shown,  had  obtained  them  surreptitiously 
from  the  desk  of  Mr.  J.  J.  C.  Abbott,  the  legal  adviser  of 
Sir  Hugh  Allan.  In  plain  English,  they  had  been  stolen  and 
then  made  public.  Appearing  without  any  explanation,  ex- 
cept of  a  hostile  character,  they  seemed  so  serious  that  public 
sentiment  was  roused  to  a  white  heat  and  much  anger  was 
shown  toward  Lord  Dufferin  for  not  at  once  dismissing  his 


POLITICAL   QUESTIONS   AND   DEVELOPMENT       821 

Ministry.  These  documents  were  all  of  a  somewhat  similar 
nature.  The  most  important  of  them  was  as  follows  and  was 
marked  "Private  and  confidential": 

MoNTBEAL,  30th  July,  1872. 
Dear  Sib  Hugh — The  friends  of  the  Government  will  be  expected  t« 
be  assisted  with  funds  in  the  pending  elections,  and  any  amount  which 
you  or  your  Company  shall  advance  for  that  purpose  shall  be  recouped 
to  you.    A  memorandum  of  immediate  requirements  is  below. 

•Very  truly  yours,  (Signed)  George   E.   Cabtieb. 

Now  wanted: 

Sir  John  A,  Macdonald $25,000 

Hon.  Mr.  Langevin 15,000 

Sir  G.  E,  C 20,000 

Sir  J.  A.    (add'l) 10,000 

Sir  G.  E.  C.   (add'l) 30,000 

Other  documents  were  receipts  for  similar  sums,  requests 
for  more  and  a  telegram  which  became  particularly  well 
known  in  the  elections  and  controversies  of  succeeding  years. 
It  was  addressed  to  Mr.  Abbott  at  Montreal,  on  August  26th, 
signed  "John  A.  Macdonald,"  and  read  as  follows:  "I  must 
have  another  $10,000 ;  will  be  the  last  time  of  calling ;  do  not 
fail  me ;  answer  to-day."  Mr.  Abbott  promptly  wired  to  draw 
on  him  for  the  amount.  In  his  subsequent  evidence  before  a 
Royal  Commission  Sir  Hugh  Allan  gave  a  list  of  the  total 
suras  which  he  had  contributed  in  this  connection.  They  in- 
cluded $85,000  to  Sir  George  Cartier's  Committee  in  Mont- 
real— where  he  fought  a  losing  battle  in  a  very  doubtful  con- 
stituency, against  the  advice  of  Sir  John  Macdonald,  and  was 
beaten ;  $45,000  to  Sir  John  himself,  for  election  expenses  in 
Ontario ;  and  $32,600  to  Mr.  H.  L.  Langevin  for  election  ex- 
penses at  Quebec.  Such  is  the  bare  detail  of  the  matter  and 
it  certainly  looks  bad  enough.  Fill  in  these  particulars  with 
the  natural  animus  of  party  warfare ;  add  the  suspicions  re- 
sulting from  a  season  of  company  promoting  and  charter 
controversies ;  mix  up  in  this  mess  the  unsustained  allega- 
tions of  disappointed  capitalists  and  defeated  politicians,  and 
the  result  is  still  more  unpleasant. 

Yet  time  and  the  justice  of  historic  retrospect  have  thrown 
strong  light  into  this  dense  shadow  and  relieved  the  situa- 


822 


THE  STORY   OF   THE  DOMINION 


tion  of  much  that  at  first  seemed  inexcusable.  Sir  Hugh 
Allan  was  a  man  who  would  have  been  naturally  connected 
with  such  an  enterprise  as  the  Canadian  Pacific  Railway,  both 
by  public  fitness  and  financial  power.  He  was,  and  always 
had  been,  a  Conservative  and  is  understood  to  have  given  al- 
most as  liberally  to  party  funds  in  a  preceding  election  as  in 
this  one  of  1872.  His  great  transportation  interests  depended 
very  largely  for  success  upon  the  progressive  policy  of  the 
Government  and  would  have  made  him  contribute  to  its  cam- 
paign fund  without  any  question  of  a  C.  P.  R.  charter.  He 
practically  controlled  the  Canadian  freight  and  passenger 
traffic  to  Europe  through  the  Montreal  Ocean  Steamship  Com- 
pany and  was  aiming  to  keep  this  trade  as  against  a  proposed 
ocean  line  under  the  auspices  of  the  Grand  Trunk  Railway. 
He,  therefore,  had  purchased,  or  projected,  or  obtained  con- 
trol of  railways  from  Toronto  to  Quebec — notably  the  North 
Shore  Railway  and  the  Northern  Colonization  Line.  If  he 
could  obtain  the  political  assistance  and  co-operation  of  Sir 
George  Cartier  in  his  projects  it  would  mean  much  in  the 
Legislature  of  Quebec  and  would  probably  enable  him  to  de- 
feat the  efforts  of  the  Grand  Trunk  to  capture  his  ocean  traffic 
by  means  of  a  rival  line.  Hence  it  was  that  this  $162,000 
subscription  to  the  election  funds  might  have  been  obtained 
by  Cartier  without  reference  to  the  Canadian  Pacific  matter 
at  all. 

Meanwhile,  the  election  had  been  going  on.  Sir  John  Mac- 
donald  knew  nothing  of  the  immense  sums  which  were  ob- 
tained, personally,  by  Sir  George  Cartier  for  what  he  had 
described  as  the  "insane"  election  contest  in  Montreal  and  it 
is  not  difficult  to  understand  his  twice-repeated  calls  for  money 
during  the  strenuous  struggle  he  was  carrying  on  in  Ontario. 
In  the  midst  of  it,  on  July  30th,  he  received  a  letter  from  Sir 
Hugh  Allan,  saying  that  he  had  made  an  arrangement  with 
Cartier  by  which  the  construction  of  the  railway  had  been 
promised  to  his  Company  if  the  attempts  at  amalgamation 
should  fail.  Without  a  moment's  hesitation  Sir  John  tele- 
graphed a  repudiation  of  the  whole  matter  and  explicitly 


POLITICAL   QUESTIONS   AND   DEVELOPMENT       323 


declared  that  Cartier  had  no  authority  to  make  any  arrange- 
ment of  the  kind.  Then,  as  the  Premier  afterward  pointed 
out,*  Sir  Hugh  subscribed  to  the  party  fund  the  amounts  else- 
where indicated,  "in  the  face  of  a  positive  intimation  from 
the  Government  through  me,  that  the  road  would  not  be  given 
to  his  Company,  but  only  to  an  amalgamated  company." 

This  must  have  been  a  serious  blow  to  the  ambitious  finan- 
cier, but,  on  the  other  hand,  he  had  to  consider  the  very  real 
danger  to  the  whole  project,  and  to  his  general  transporta- 
tion interests,  if  the  Government  were  defeated.  Evidently, 
as  a  business  man,  he  balanced  his  chances  and  decided  to 
back  the  Conservative  party  for  all  he  was  worth.  It  was 
a  case  of  inclination  and  policy  going  hand  in  hand.  There 
is  no  doubt,  also,  that  Cartier  had  committed  the  Government 
to  a  degree  of  which  Sir  John  Macdonald  had  no  conception, 
and  in  which  his  repudiation  of  the  written  arrangement 
seems  to  have  had  little  effect.  The  reason  for  Cartier's  ex- 
traordinary course  throughout  this  entire  period  was  only 
known  to  a  few  at  that  time,  and  was  never  known  to  the 
public.  In  the  confidential  communication  to  Lord  Dufferin, 
already  quoted,  Sir  John  says:  "Not  until  after  his  death 
(May  20,  1873),  and  the  evidence  was  produced,  were  any 
of  his  colleagues  aware  of  his  insane  course.  As  I  have  al- 
ready said,  it  showed  too  clearly  that  his  mind  had  broken 
down  as  well  as  body.  Of  course,  I  can  say  this  to  you  only, 
as  I  would  rather  suffer  any  consequences  than  cast  any  re- 
flection upon  his  memory  before  the  public,  or  say  anything 
that  would  have  even  the  appearance  of  an  attempt  to  trans- 
fer any  blame  that  may  attach  to  these  transactions  to  any 
one  who  is  no  longer  here  to  speak  for  himself." 

He  then  went  on  to  point  out  that  neither  he,  nor  any 
member  of  the  Government,  had  the  slightest  knowledge  of 
the  situation  created  by  Cartier  in  Montreal.  He  also  re- 
ferred to  the  fact  that  money  was  necessary  for  the  legitimate 
expenses  of  an  election ;  that  in  Canada,  unfortunately,  there 

•  Private  letter  to  Lord  Dufferin,  explaining  the  situation,  written  on 
Octobdr  9,  1873,  and  not  made  public  until  1894. 


if* 
■J 


824 


THE  8T0RY   OF  THE  DOMINION 


was  no  Carlton  Club  to  conduct  the  financial  part  of  a  cam- 
paign; that  money  was  collected  and  must  be  collected  for 
these  purposes,  and  that  it  had  to  pass,  more  or  less,  under 
existing  circumstances,  through  the  hands  of  Ministers.  He 
might  have  pointed  out  that  no  one,  even  in  those  days  of 
fiery  accusation,  ever  charged  him  or  his  colleagues  with 
benefiting  personally  by  the  moneys  thus  received,  and,  it 
may  be  added  here  as  greatly  to  his  credit,  that  up  to  the 
day  of  his  death  Sir  John  Macdonald  never  uttered  a  word 
of  reproach,  or  of  insinuation,  r^arding  the  conduct  of  Sir 
George  Cartier.  The  latter's  long  friendship  and  co-opera- 
tion with  Sir  John  and  his  sincere  work  for  Canada  deserved 
this.  But,  the  incident  is  none  the  less  a  lasting  proof  of  the 
personal  fidelity  and  honor  of  a  Canadian  leader  under  severe 
strain. 

Kegrettable  as  the  whole  episode  was,  hurtful  as  it  was  to 
the  position  and  prospects  of  all  concerned,  injurious  as  it 
was  to  the  fair  fame  of  Canadian  politics,  it  is  yet  reasonable 
to  say  that  the  ensuing  national  condemnation  was  sufficient 
puniehment  to  the  Conservative  leaders,  and  that  Sir  John 
Macdonald  has  come  out  of  the  whole  transaction  much 
cleaner  politically,  and  much  better  personally,  than  even  his 
ardent  followers  at  that  time  had  hoped  for.  There  has  been 
much  nonsense  written  upon  this  subject.  Money  is  needed 
in  elections  and  must  be  obtained.  There  was  no  Conserva- 
tive so  rich  and  so  available  as  Sir  Hugh  Allan,  and,  unless 
he  expected  to  buy  the  charter  by  this  means,  there  was  no 
corruption  in  connection  with  Dominion  politics  in  his  con- 
tribution. This  can  hardly  be  said,  however,  as  to  his  ex- 
pectations from  Sir  George  Cartier  in  Quebec  politics.  The 
unfortunate  mental  and  physical  ailments  of  Cartier  at  tihis 
time  are,  perhaps,  sufficient  excuse  for  him,  and  it  is  also 
apparent  that  Sir  John  Macdonald  was  not  really  responsi- 
ble, though  he  fully  assumed  the  responsibility,  for  his  col- 
league's vagaries.  On  the  other  hand,  his  instant  repudia- 
tion of  Cartier's  tentative  promise,  and  the  refusal  of  the 
Government  to  aid  Allan's  pretension  to  the  Presidency  of 


POLITICAL    QUESTIONS   AND  DEVELOPMENT       326 

the  amalgamated  Company  after  the  elections,  relieves  him 
from  personal  suspicion. 

Meantime,  a  Royal  Commission  had  been  appointed  on 
August  13  th  to  practically  take  the  place  of  the  now  useless 
Select  Committee.  It  was  composed  of  three  well-known 
Judges — the  Hon.  Charles  Dewey  Day,  the  Hon.  Antoine 
Polette,  and  the  Hon.  James  Robert  Gowan.  They  pre- 
sented a  Report  to  the  Governor-General  on  October  17th  con- 
taining a  summary  of  the  evidence  taken  under  oath,  and  His 
Excellency  at  once  summoned  Parliament  to  consider  it 
Mr.  Mackenzie,  as  leader  of  the  Liberal  Opposition,  promptly 
moved  a  RcBolution  of  "severe  censure,"  and  a  debate  fol- 
lowed which  teemed  with  dramatic  incidents,  and  was  per- 
meated by  a  sullen  sentiment  of  Conservative  dissatisfaction. 
On  November  3d,  Sir  John  Macdonald  delivered  a  defence 
and  explanation  of  four  hours'  duration,  aiid,  if  any  single 
speech  could  have  saved  the  situation,  it  would  have  done 
80.  But  he  saw  that  the  feeling  had  grown  too  strong  for 
even  his  personality  to  overcome,  and  he  prevented  the  pas- 
sage of  the  vote  of  censure  by  retirement  from  office. 

THE   MACKENZIE   GOVERNMENT 

Mr.  Alexander  Mackenzie,  a  clear-headed  Scotchman,  who 
had  risen  from  the  humble  labors  of  a  stone-mason  to  the 
high  functions  of  a  legislator,  and  whose  character  is  one  of 
the  most  honest  and  straightforward  in  Canadian  political 
history,  became  Prime  Minister  on  November  7th.  With 
him  in  the  new  Ministry  were  the  Hon.  A.  A.  Dorion,  the 
sturdy  leader  of  Quebec  Liberalism — soon  to  become  Chief 
Justice  and  to  adorn  for  many  years  the  Bench  of  his  na- 
tive Province;  the  Hon.  Richard  J.  Cartwright,  a  one-time 
Conservative,  and  destined  to  be  remembered  as  the  Canadian 
embodiment  of  clear,  cold,  cutting  oratory  of  a  type  which 
combined  the  culture  of  an  English  gentleman  with  the  oc- 
casional savagery  of  a  backwoods  Indian;  the  Hon.  Luc 
I.eteilier  de  St.  Just,  a  typical  grand  seigneur  of  Quebec; 
the  Hon.  Albert  J.  Smith,  who,  in  New  Brunswick,  had 


i  1 


826 


THE  STORY   OF   THE   DOMINION 


fought  Confederation  as  Dorion  had  in  Quebec;  the  Hon. 
L.  S.  Huntington,  the  hero  of  the  moment,  and  destined  to 
practically  drop  out  of  Canadian  history  and  politics  a  few 
years  later;  and  the  Hon.  Edward  Blake,  a  man  possessed 
of  remarkable  legal  acumen,  of  great  abilities  which  never 
reached  their  higher  possibilities  of  de-  '  '>ment,  of  political 
attainments  which  did  not  include  the  >iiiial  of  popularity 
and  the  quality  of  ta^t,  of  oratorical  powers  which  were  great 
in  the  presentation  of  accumulated  logic,  but  very  weak  in 
the  faculty  of  carrying  popular  conviction.  Parliament  was 
dissolved  on  January  2,  1874,  the  new  Ministry  swept  the 
country,  and  remained  in  power  until  1878.  Sir  John  Mac- 
donald,  despite  his  willingness  to  resign,  was  maintained  in 
his  position  as  leader  of  the  Conservative  party,  and,  after  a 
two  years'  interlude  of  practical  rest,  went  to  work  upon  lines 
which  were  to  once  more  carry  him  back  to  office — this  time 
for  the  rest  of  his  life. 

George  Brown,  who  had  been  beat.  '^  in  the  elections  of 
18C7,  and  had  been  called  to  the  Se  in  1873,  was  now 

practically  out  of  politics,  and  so  reui..  tjd — except  through 
the  great  influence  of  his  paper — until  the  miserable  murder, 
in  1880,  which  removed  his  sincere  and  strenuous  personality 
from  the  life  of  Canada.  Many  other  changes  had  also  taken 
place  in  the  personnel  of  politics.  Sir  Francis  Hincks,  after 
a  brief  interval  of  power  as  Finance  Minister  under  Sir  John 
Macdonald,  had  retired  into  private  life;  John  Sandfield 
Macdonald  had  become  the  first  Premier  of  Ontario,  been 
defeated  after  a  few  years  of  economical  administration,  and 
shortly  afterward  had  passed  away;  Oliver  Mowat  had  come 
down  from  the  Bench  in  1872  and  taken  the  Premiership  of 
Ontario,  which  he  was  destined  to  hold  for  twenty-four  years, 
amid  an  ever-increasing  reputation  for  shrewdness  and  skill 
in  managing  men;  Joseph  Howe  had  passed  away  in  Nova 
Scotia,  and  Charles  Tupper  become  the  undisputed  Conserva- 
tive leader  of  all  the  Maritime  Provinces ;  Hiram  Blanchard, 
William  Annand,  P.  C.  Hill,  S.  H.  Holmes  succeeded  each 
other  as  Premiers  of  Nova  Scotia  up  to  the  days  when  John 


POLITICAL    QUESTIONS   AND   DEVELOPMENT       827 


S.  D.  Thompson  and  W.  S.  Fielding  came  to  the  front;  A. 
K.  Wetraore,  Oeorge  E.  King,  and  J.  J.  Fraser  came  to  the 
surface  of  aliairs  in  New  Brunswick,  while  Wilmot  and 
Tilley  and  Chandler  retired  successively  to  the  cool  shades  of 
Government  House  at  Eredericton;  in  far-away  British  Co- 
lumbia J.  F.  McCreight,  Amor  de  Cosmos,  A.  C.  Elliot, 
George  A.  Walkem.  Robert  Beaven,  William  Smithe,  A.  E. 
B.  Davie,  and  John  Robson  succeeded  each  other  as  the  head 
of  Ministries  which  it  would  be  exceedingly  hard  to  politi- 
cally define. 

In  all  the  Provinces  constructive  difficulties  and  constitu- 
tional problems  were  bound  to  arise,  and  did  arise,  from  time 
to  time.  In  Ontario  they  took  the  form  of  a  boundary  ques- 
tion with  Manitoba,  which  was  settled  by  the  Judicial  Com- 
mittee of  the  Imperial  Privy  Council  in  favor  of  the  older 
Province ;  of  questions  of  jurisdiction  over  rivers  and  streams, 
of  the  right  to  prohibit  the  sale  and  manufacture  of  intoxi- 
cants, of  the  power  to  appoint  Queen's  Counsel  and  similar 
subjocts.  In  most  of  these  cases  the  contention  of  the  Prov- 
ince was  sustained.  In  the  Maritime  Provinces  the  chief 
issut  hus  raised  was  the  New  Brunswick  School  question. 
In  A[  1,  1871,  the  Legislature  of  that  Province  practically 
abolished  Roman  Catholic  Separate  Schools,  and  organized 
its  system  upon  a  non-sectarian  basis.  The  minority  ap- 
pealed through  the  various  Courts  to  the  Judicial  Committee, 
where,  finally,  the  appeal  was  dismissed.  Then  they  went 
into  the  political  arena,  and  in  May,  1872,  a  stormy  debate 
took  place  at  Ottawa,  without  any  other  result  than  the  posi- 
tive refusal  of  the  Dominion  Government  to  intervene  in  the 
matter. 

The  most  significant  of  all  these  earlier  controversies,  how- 
ever, was  the  constitutional  one  created  by  the  dismissal,  on 
March  4,  1878,  of  the  De  Boucherville  Ministry  in  Quebec. 
The  Lieutenant-Governor,  M.  Letellier  de  St.  Just,  could  not 
get  on  with  his  advisers,  and,  therefore,  dismissed  them  while 
in  possession  of  a  majority  in  the  Legislature.  He  called  in 
Henri  Gustave  Joly,  who  assumed  responsibility  for  the  ac- 


"Ml 


# 


328 


THE   STORY   OF    THE   DOMINION 


tion  and  managed  to  hold  office  for  over  a  year.  The  con- 
stitutional principle  seems  to  have  been  met  fully  by  the 
Governor  Ending  a  Premier  to  shield  his  action.  But  here 
came  the  political  issue — a  much  more  prominent  feature  in 
such  a  coup-d'etat.  Letellier  was  a  Liberal,  his  Minister  was 
a  Conservative,  Joly  was  a  Li^  ral.  The  Conservatives  were 
aggrieved  at  the  dismissal,  and  took  the  old  Liberal  ground, 
that  it  was  an  infraction  of  the  responsible  government  prin- 
ciple under  which  a  Governor  is  supposec^  to  be  bound  by  his 
advisers  so  long  as  they  possess  a  Parliamentary  majority. 
This  was  the  ground  taken  by  Sir  John  Macdonald  at  Ot- 
tawa. The  Liberal  leaders  there,  however,  took  the  position 
that  the  Governor  had  been  relieved  of  responsibility  by  his 
new  Premier,  and  this  really  seems  to  be  the  true  constitu- 
tional position  and  not  incompatible  with  the  correctness  of 
the  other.  The  debate  was  a  bitter  one,  and  M.  Letellier  was 
maintained  in  hib  place  and  his  policy.  When,  however,  the 
Conservatives  came  into  power  at  Ottawa,  soon  afterward, 
it  was  inevitable  that  some  action  should  be  taken,  and,  de- 
spite the  objections  of  Lord  Lome,  who  believed  that  the 
office  of  Lieutenant-Governor  would  thus  be  degraded  to  the 
position  of  a  party  appanage,  Letellier  was  dismissed. 

Incidentally,  this  cacie  marked  a  change  in  the  functions 
of  the  Governor-General.  The  Marquess  of  Lome,*  who  had 
succeeded  Lord  Dufferin  in  1878,  in  referring  the  proposed 
dismissal  to  the  Colonial  Office,  had  been  advised  in  reply 
that  he  should  follow  the  suggestions  of  his  Government. 
This  was,  practically,  the  final  step  in  making  his  position 
a  similar  one,  in  all  the  relations  of  Governor-General  to 
Cabinet  and  Parliament,  to  that  of  the  Sovereign  in  Eng- 
land. Meanwhile,  the  politics  of  Canada  had  been  slowly 
improving  as  the  scope  of  operations  and  public  thought  had 
widened.     They  were  still  essentially  Colonial  and  rather 

*  Lord  Lome  became  Duke  of  Argyll  in  1900  by  the  death  of  his  father. 
Lord  Dufferin,  after  serving  ps  Viceroy  of  India  and  in  other  positions 
of  great  importance,  was  created  Marquess  of  Dufferin  and  Ava.  It 
may  also  be  added  that  Lord  Stanley  of  Preston,  a  later  Governor-Gen- 
ttral,  became  afterward  the  16th  Earl  of  Derby. 


POLITICAL    QUESTIONS   AND    DEVELOPMFNT       329 


narrow,  but  were  steadily  broadening  out  toward  the  Impe- 
rial development  of  the  succeeding  quarter  of  a  century,  ^o 
dc^  bt  the  experience  of  the  leaders  in  forming  the  constitu- 
tion, and  then  bringing  it  into  practical  and  full  operation, 
was  a  great  factor  in  this  progress,    e?  j.ti 

Since  Confederation,  Messrs.  Gait  and  Rose  and  Hincks, 
as  successive  Finance  Ministers,  had  been  compelled  to  evolve 
a  new  financial  system;  to  bring  together  varied  threads  of 
conflicting  Provincial  experience;  to  create  a  new  and  broad 
fiscal  policy  suited  to  several  Provinces  and  many  diverse 
interests;  to  build  up  a  Dominion  banking  system.  It  was  not 
an  easy  task.  The  country  from  ocean  to  ocean  had  also  to 
be  considered  and  studied  in  its  public  works,  its  possible 
public  improvements,  its  vast  requirements  for  transporta- 
tion facilities,  its  complex  and  antagonistic  railway  and  water- 
way systems.  A  Department  of  Marine  and  Fisheries,  deal- 
ing with  conditions  of  international  import  and  touching 
American  rivalry  on  the  Atlantic,  the  Pacific,  and  the  Great 
Lakes,  had  to  be  established  and  maintained.  Intricate  ques- 
tions of  revenue  as  well  as  tariff,  of  relations  between  the 
Provinces  and  with  the  United  States,  had  to  be  considered. 
Difficult  constitutional  and  administrative  points  in  connec- 
tion with  the  admission  of  new  Provinces  had  to  be  met,  the 
wants  of  the  vast  areas  of  the  far  West  satisfied  from  time 
to  time,  the  Indians  looked  after  and  controlled,  the  whole 
postal  system  of  half  a  continent  organized,  or  reorganized. 

The  first  Government  of  the  Dominion  had,  indeed,  no 
easy  task,  and  there  were  not  a  few  great  probleans,  such  as 
the  creation  of  the  Supreme  Court  of  Canada,  which  de- 
scended to  their  successors.  Upon  the  whole,  however,  they 
were  successful,  and  had  the  new  Ministry  of  Mr.  Mackenzie 
been  amenable  to  public  opinion  and  requirements  and  senti- 
ment, upon  issues  such  as  protection  and  the  rapid  construc- 
tion of  the  Canadian  Pacific  Railway,  they  would  have  had 
a  splendid  opportunity  of  being  also  distinguished  for  con- 
structive statesmanship.  


i 


■iyWi 


880 


THE   STORY    OF   THE  DOMINION 


CHAPTEK  XXI 


THE  NATIONAL   POLICY  OF  PROTECTION      i! 


ii 


.  r-,-: 


■.'"r 


THE  story  of  the  rise  and  fall  of  tariffs,  or  the  ever- 
present  controversy  between  the  principles  of  free 
trade  and  protection,  is  not  usually  considered  a  sub- 
ject of  absorbing  attractiveness.  Yet,  in  the  case  of  Canada, 
the  annals  of  the  "N.  P.,"  as  it  ^7as  universally  called  for 
years,  present  features  of  really  popular  and  permanent  in- 
terest. They  include  the  consideration  of  important  under- 
lying movements  connected  with  the  birth  and  travail  of  a 
new  country  and  an  incipient  national  sentiment.  They  were 
vitally  concerned  with  the  personal  success  or  failure  of  a 
great  man  and  the  rise  into  prolonged  power  of  the  party 
which  he  had  been  mainly  instrumental  in  creating. 

J..  A    TURN    IN    THE    TIDE    OF    CANADIAN    AFFAIRS 

They  marked  the  turn  in  the  tide  from  poverty  to  pros- 
perity, from  what  might  be  termed  national  infancy  to  na- 
tional boyhood,  from  dependence  upon  the  United  States  in 
fiscal  matters  to  comparative  independence,  from  Provincial 
looseness  of  tie  and  separation  of  interests  to  genuine  co- 
operation and  partnership,  from  smallness  of  popular  view  to 
a  wider  horizon  and  greater  individual  enterprise.  How  far 
the  National  Policy  was  instrumental  in  this  undoubted  de- 
velopment is  a  still  disputed  point  and  must  remain  so  under 
existing  party  conditions ;  but  as  to  the  present  necessity  for 
a  protective  tariff,  and  the  inferential  necessity  for  its  crea- 
tion, there  seems,  even  now,  to  be  a  pretty  general  assent  in 
all  Canadian  parties. 

Following  Confederation  a  somewhat  peculiar  state  of  af- 
fairs existed  in  the  new  Dominion.  There  was  the  shell  of 
a  great  state,  the  institutions  and  machinery  of  a  country 
which  stretched  in  nominal  union  from  ocean  to  ocean  and 


muFT" 


THE  NATIONAL   POLICY   OF  PROTECTION 


331 


covered  over  three  million  square  miles  of  territory.  But 
the  population  was  thinly  scattered  over  its  vast  area;  the 
progress  of  national  prosperity  was  somewhat  slow;  the  sen- 
timent of  Canadian  unity  was  decidedly  weak;  the  Provinces 
leaned  considerably  in  matters  of  trade  interchange,  and 
demand  and  supply,  upon  the  States  to  the  south  of  them; 
railway  communication  between  the  Pacific  and  the  Great 
Lakes  had  not  been  established  and  seemed  almost  too  great 
an  undertaking  for  so  youthful  a  people ;  and  comparatively 
little  exchange  of  thought  or  commerce  as  yet  passed  between 
the  Provinces. 


•ea- 
in 


A  CHANGE  IN  TARIFF  CONDITIONS 

The  tariff  was  at  first  a  uniform  one  of  15  per  cent  upon 
all  goods  coming  into  the  Dominion,  and  this  average  reduc- 
tion of  5  per  cent  on  what  had  been  the  tariff  of  the  Can- 
adas,  under  Mr.  Gait's  fiscal  policy,  was  for  a  time  sufficient 
to  prevent  the  market  being  monopolized  by  American  manu- 
factures, although  it  was  not  sufficient  to  be  protective  in 
thf  sense  of  encouraging  home  industry.  It  simply  enabled 
Canadian  manufacturers  to  hold  their  own  during  the  period 
of  Sir  John  Macdonald's  first  Government  from  1867  to  1873. 

The  reason  for  this  condition  of  affairs  and  for  the  change 
which  began  to  show  itself  about  1872  was  the  simple  fact 
that  all  the  native  powers  of  recuperation  and  productive 
capacity  which  the  United  States  possessed  were  required,  in 
the  half-dozen  years  following  the  Civil  War,  for  the  supply 
of  its  own  people  and  the  meeting  of  new  conditions  North 
and  South,  in  both  agriculture  and  industry.  During  these 
years  the  small  15  per  cent  tariff  was  enough  to  prevent  seri- 
ous competition  with  the  tiny  and  still  tentative  industrial 
development  of  Canada.  But  by  the  time  of  the  general  elec- 
tions in  1872  it  was  an  open  secret  that  some  increase  of 
duties  would  soon  be  necessary,  and  although  the  storms  of 
the  Canadian  Pacific  "scandal"  broke  over  and  shattered  the 
Ministry — which  had  been  successful  at  the  polls — the  neces- 
sity was  accepted  by  its  Liberal  successor  and  the  tariff  was 


882 


THE  STORY  OF   THE  DOMINION 


increased  under  Mr.  Mackenzie  to  17^  per  cent.  At  that 
point,  however,  the  Government  stayed  its  hand  and  no 
amount  of  persuasion,  no  cloud  of  discontent  upon  the  hori- 
zon, growing  in  shadowy  outline  as  the  years  passed  on,  would 
move  the  Government  in  the  direction  of  pure  protection. 
American  manufacturers,  meanwhile,  had  revived,  prospered, 
and  then  over-produced.  They  had  supplied  their  own  mar- 
ket and  then  turned  to  find  other  worlds  to  conquer,  and  the 
nearest  and  most  exposed  was  the  Canadian  field. 

Between  1873  and  1878  their  goods  poured  over  the  fron- 
tier and  beat  down  prices  below  what  the  small  Canadian 
firms,  with  their  limited  production  and  market  and  capital, 
could  hope  to  touch.  Then,  after  the  local  industry  had 
collapsed,  prices  were  again  raised,  and  the  American  firms 
held  their  captured  market  in  apparently  secure  shape.  All 
over  the  country  this  was  happening,  and  even  the  farmer 
began  to  suffer  from  the  inrush  of  American  wheat  and  otLcr 
foodstuffs.  From  every  side  came  demands  for  a  change  of 
policy,  but  Mr.  Mackenzie  and  Sir  Richard  Cartwright,  his 
Finance  Minister,  were  firm  in  th^ir  view  that  while  a  tariff 
might,  and  must  in  this  case,  be  imposed  for  revenue  and 
at  uniform  rates  upon  all  kinds  of  goods  coming  into  the 
country,  it  was  unwise,  retrogressive,  and  injurious  to  single 
out  industries  for  8j)ecial  protection,  or  for  the  Government 
to  "spoon-feed"  any  individual  interest  in  the  country. 

Sir  John  Macdonald,  however,  was  quick  to  see  not  only 
the  rising  sentiment  of  the  people  and  his  own  opportunity, 
but,  it  may  surely  be  believed,  a  possibility  of  benefiting  the 
community  itself.  With  him  practice  was  always  superior  to 
theory  and  the  practical  needs  of  the  moment  more  impor- 
tant than  the  vagaries  of  academic  schools  of  thought.  Kor 
was  he  inconsistent,  as  his  opponents  have  frequently  claimed. 
He  had  supported  the  protective  policy  of  Gait  in  the  old 
Canadian  Assembly  of  1858-50,  and  had  spoken  in  favor  of 
helping  local  industries  at  Hamilton,  in  1861,  and  elscAvhere 
in  other  years.  In  1876  the  issue  was  coming  to  a  head.  A 
Commission  of  Inquiry  into  tiie  existing  condition  of  affairs 


i 


mm 


THE  NATIONAL    POLICY   OF  PROTECTION 


33^ 


had  been  appointed,  and,  under  the  Chairmanship  of  Mr. 
David  Mills,  presented  an  academic  Report  admitting  the 
financial  stringency  and  industrial  depression,  but  condemn- 
ing the  adoption  of  Protection  as  a  cure,  on  the  ground  that 
such  a  system  would  diminish  the  consumption  of  foreign 
goods,  would  lessen  the  revenue  by  $9,000,000,  would  in- 
crease the  price  of  home-manufactured  goods,  would  impose 
a  heavy  tax  on  the  consumer,  and  was,  generally,  a  proposi- 
tion to  relieve  distress  by  the  redistribution  of  property. 

SIE    JOHN    MACDONALD   TAKES    UP    THE    QUESTION 

Sir  John  Macdonald  and  the  Conservatives  accepted  the 
gauntlet  thus  thrown  down  and  had,  indeed,  anticipated  it  in 
the  following  motion  presented  to  the  House  on  March  10th 
by  the  Tory  leader : 

"That  this  House  regrets  that  His  Excellency  the  Governor-General  has 
not  been  advised  to  recommend  to  Parliament  a  measure  for  the  read- 
justment of  the  tariff  which  would  not  only  aid  in  alleviating  the  stag- 
nation of  business,  but  would  also  afford  fitting  encouragement  and  pro- 
tection to  the  struggling  manufactures  and  industries  as  well  as  to  the 
agricultural  products  of  the  country."  ^ 

The  proposal  was,  of  course,  voted  down  by  the  Govern- 
ment's majority,  but  the  issue  was  clearly  presented  and,  if 
possible,  made  more  so  by  succeeding  Resolutions,  of  which 
the  most  important  is  that  of  March  7,  1877.  It  was  pro- 
posed by  Sir  John  and  declared  that  "the  welfare  of  Canada 
requires  the  adoption  of  a  National  Policy  which,  by  a  ju- 
dicious readjustment  of  the  Tariff,  will  benefit  and  foster  the 
agricultural,  the  mining,  the  manufacturing,  and  other  inter- 
ests of  the  Dominion." 

It  was  defeated  by  forty-nine  majority,  and  then  Dr. 
George  T.  Orton  proposed  a  Resolution  declaring  that  the 
adoption  of  such  a  policy  would  retain  the  people  in  Canada 
and  lessen  the  growing  migration  to  the  United  States ;  would 
restore  prosperity  to  the  now  struggling  industries  of  the 
country ;  would  prevent  Canada  from  being  any  longer  a  mere 
sacrifice  market  for  American  products ;  would  encourage  and 
develop  an  active  trade  between  the  Provinces ;  and,  by  mov- 


•^ 


804 


THE   STORY   OF   THE  DOMINION 


iug  in  the  direction  of  reciprocity  of  tariffs  with  the  United 
States,  would  help  in  eventually  procuring  reciprocity  of 
trade.  Upon  this  motion,  which  was  defeated  by  114  to  77 
votes,  the  ensuing  elections  were  chiefly  fought. 

Meanwhile,  matters  went  from  bad  to  worse  in  a  commer- 
cial and  financial  sense.  Whatever  the  value  of  the  American 
market,  it  was  absolutely  closed  to  Canadian  productions  in 
most  of  the  important  lines,  while  American  manufactures 
and  producers  had  a  full  sweep  of  the  Dominion.  American 
wheat,  rye,  barley,  Indian  corn,  wheat  flour,  oatmeal,  coal, 
salt,  wool,  pig  iron,  iron  and  steel  rails,  bricks,  and  flax  had 
free  entry  into  Canada,  while  similar  Canadian  products  en- 
teringthe  United  States  were  charged  high  duties — from  wheat 
at  20  cents  a  bushel  to  steel  rails  at  $25  a  ton.  Home-made 
products  in  Canada  were  steadily  driven  to  the  wall  while 
the  poverty-stricken  people  could  no  longer  afford  to  import 
British  goods,  which  went  down  in  bulk-value  from  $68,- 
000,000  in  1873  to  $37,000,000  in  1878.  As  with  the  indus- 
trial and  mercantile  interests  so  with  the  agricultural.  In 
1878  the  Dominion  actually  imported  $17,909,000  worth  of 
flour,  grain,  animals,  and  other  agricultural  products  from 
the  United  States  in  competition  with  home-made  productions. 

The  Conservative  battle-cry  became  one  of  "Canada  for 
the  Canadians,"  and,  under  all  the  circumstances,  it  is  not 
wonderful  that  the  slogan  attached  to  the  side  of  Sir  John 
Macdonald  much  of  the  best  and  brainiest  support  in  the 
community,  l^ewspaper  men  found  something  to  discuss  in 
the  broad  question  of  protection  better  than  many  of  the 
small  and  local  issues  of  the  past  and  keen  spirits  such  as 
John  Maclean — who  had  long  been  urging  such  a  policy — R. 
W.  Phipps,  Thomas  White,  C.  H.  Mackintosh,  and  Nicholas 
Flood  Davin  enthusiastically  advocated  a  new  and  more  na- 
tional system.  Even  Mr.  Goldwin  Smith — the  ever  caustic 
publicist — was  stirred  with  a  momentary  political  ambition, 
and,  in  1878,  is  stated  to  have  sought  a  Conservative  nomina- 
tion and  did  certainly  support  the  proposed  National  Policy. 
Charles  Carroll  Colby,  afterward  a  Minister  of  the  Crown, 


THE   NATIONAL    POLICY   OF  PROTECTION 


835 


wrote  a  powerful  pamphlet  in  its  support.  Mr.  D.  L.  Mc- 
Pherson  issued  a  number  of  similar  contributions  to  the  dis- 
cussion. Dr.  Tupper,  with  all  the  force  of  his  strenuous 
oratory,  joined  Sir  John  Macdonald  on  a  myriad  platforms 
and  did  great  Service  to  the  cause;  while  in  July,  1878,  Mr. 
S.  L.  Tilley  descended  from  the  Lieutenant-Governorship  of 
New  Brunswick  and  contributed  his  fluent,  silvery  speech  and 
pleasant  personality  to  the  issue  and  the  support  of  the  Op- 
position. 

The  Government  had  been  also  reinforced  by  the  logical, 
argumentative  faculty  of  David  Mills  and  the  pleasant,  per- 
suasive eloquence  of  Wilfrid  Laurier.  Mr.  Mackenzie  had 
been  strengthened  in  health  and  reputation  by  a  visit  to  Scot- 
land and  by  the  splendid  reception  he  had  been  given  in  his 
native  place  as  well  as  by  the  sense  and  patriotism  of  his 
speeches  on  the  soil  of  his  ancestors.  With  Cartwright,  Hunt- 
ington, Mills,  and  others,  he  went  through  the  country  in  1877 
and  1878  everywhere  nailing  the  flag  of  a  revenue  tariff  to  the 
masthead  of  his  party's  fate.  It  was  a  striking  struggle  in 
every  sense  of  the  word  and  the  sweeping  success  of  Sir  John 
Macdonald  was  not  less  interesting  because  of  the  surprise 
felt  by  his  opponents  at  the  result.  Mr.  Mackenzie  at  once 
resigned,  and,  on  Ocotber  17,  1878,  the  new  Conservative 
Ministry  was  formed — one  which  lasted  with  variations  in 
leadership  and  fluctuations  in  membership  until  1896.  Sir 
John  Macdonald  was,  of  course.  Premier,  the  Hon.  James 
McDonald,  afterward  Chief  Justice  of  IS'ova  Scotia,  was  Min- 
ister of  Justice,  Sir  S.  Leonard  Tilley*  was  Minister  of  Fi- 
nance and  retained  the  post  until  1885,  Sir  Charles  Tupper 
was  Minister  of  Railways  and  Canals  and  held  the  position 
until  the  same  date,  Sir  Hector  L.  Langevin  was  Postmaster- 
General,  and  afterward,  for  many  years,  Minister  of  Public 
Works.  Other  members  of  the  Government  were  L.  F.  R. 
Masson,  Mackenzie  Bowell,  J.  C.  Pope,  L.  F.  G.  Baby,  John 
O'Connor,  Sir  Alexander  Campbell,  and  R.  D.  Wilniot. 

*  In  1877  Richard  J.  Cartwright,  Samuel  Leonard  Tilley.  Charles  Tup- 
per, William  P.  Howland,  and  Alexander  Campbell  were  knighted  with 
the  insignia  of  K,  C.  M.  G. 


886 


THE  STORY  OF   THE  DOMINION 


THE   NEW   TARIFF 

During  the  Session  of  1879  Parliament  dealt  with  the 
somewhat  vague  pledges  of  the  "National  Policy"  platform, 
and,  under  the  direction  of  Sir  Leonard  Tilley,  did  it  thor- 
oughly. The  tariff  presented  in  the  budget  speech  of  this 
year  was  distinctly  protective  to  every  industry  which  was 
deemed  capable  of  being  encouraged,  and,  from  the  general 
principles  of  the  important  fiscal  changes  then  announced 
there  have,  in  twenty  years,  been  only  two  serious  departures 
— the  iron  and  steel  policy  of  Sir  Charles  Tupper  and  the 
Preferential  tariff  of  Mr.  Pielding.  The  first  of  these  was  an, 
extension  of  the  protective  principle,  the  other  was  a  modifica- 
tion of  it  in  form  without  seriously  affecting  it  in  detail.  Of 
course,  the  budget  and  its  important  fiscal  proposals  did  not 
pass  without  strong  opposition.  The  Hon.  Alexander  Mac- 
kenzie— soon  to  be  succeeded  in  the  Liberal  leadership  by  Mr. 
Edward  Blake — moved  in  amendment  on  April  Yth; 

"That  while  this  House  is  prepared  to  make  ample  provision  for  the 
requirements  of  the  public  service  and  the  maintenance  of  the  public 
credit,  it  regards  the  scheme  now  under  consideration  as  calculated  to 
distribute  unequally,  and  therefore  unjustly,  the  burdens  of  taxation; 
to  divert  capital  from  its  national  and  most  profitable  employment;  to 
benefit  special  classes  at  the  expense  of  the  whole  community;  tends 
toward  rendering  futile  the  costly  and  persistent  efforts  of  the  country  to 
obtain  a  share  in  the  immense  and  growing  carrying  trade  of  this  con- 
tinent; and  to  create  an  antagonism  between  the  commercial  policy  of 
the  Empire  and  that  of  Canada  that  might  lead  to  consequences  to  be 
deeply  deplored." 

The  Eesolution  was,  of  course,  defeated  on  a  party  vote 
and  by  a  large  majority — 136  to  53.  From  this  time  onward 
the  attacks  of  the  Opposition  upon  the  National  Policy  were 
continuous  and  became  more  and  more  acrid  as  the  years 
passed  on.  Until  1884,  however,  no  more  clearly  defined 
motions  were  submitted  to  the  House  of  Commons  except  in 
connection  with  detail  duties,  such  as  those  on  coal  and 
breadstuffs  and  lumber,  proposed  by  Mr.  Laurier  in  1882, 
and  one  regarding  pig  iron  and  other  kindred  products  by  Mr. 
Isaac  Burpee  in  the  same  Session.     After  1884,  the  Liberal 


i 


i 


THE  NATIONAL   POLICY   OF  PROTECTION 


337 


vith  the 
latform, 

it  thor- 

of  this 
lich  was 

general 
mounced 
partures 

and  the 
6  was  an, 
modifica- 
ail.  Of 
1  did  not 
ler  Mac- 
p  by  Mr. 


on  for  the 
the  public 
culated  to 
taxation ; 
yment;  to 
ity ;  tenda 
country  to 
f  this  con- 
l  policy  of 
inces  to  be 


arty  vote 
e  onward 
licy  were 
the  years 
Y  defined 
except  in 
coal  and 
in  1882, 
its  by  Mr. 
e  Liberal 


policy  and  fiscal  proposals  made  Reciprocity  with  the  United 
States  their  central  theme. 

The  story  of  the  National  Policy  and  its  results  has  been 
told  a  myriad  times  upon  Canadian  platforms,  from  many 
standpoints  and  with  infinitely  varied  data.  Criticism  and 
censure  have  been  as  plentifully  showered  upon  it  and  its 
makers  as  have  appreciation  and  admiration.  To  do  justice 
to  the  subject  it  should  be  looked  at  with  liberal  views  and 
from  a  wide  outlook.  The  policy  is  generally  limited  in 
popular  conception  to  the  increase  of  duties  in  1879  from 
17^  to  an  average  of  about  30  per  cent  and  to  the  consequent 
encouragement  of  industrial  development  through  the  appli- 
cation of  those  duties  to  the  protection  of  specified  interests. 
It  had,  in  reality,  a  far  wider  range.  Without  the  redundant 
revenues  and  increased  credit  which  followed  the  Canadian 
Pacific  could  not  have  been  completed  for  very  many  years; 
the  North-West  and  British  Columbia  would  have  remained 
isolated  dependencies,  leaning  upon  American  support ;  ocean 
comnmnication  with  the  Orient  would  have  remained  a  dream 
and  inter-provincial  trade  an  unknown  factor.  Hence,  prac- 
tically, the  National  Policy  covered  a  very  wide  field — one  far 
beyond  the  conception  of  it  as  being  a  mere  matter  of  in- 
creased fiscal  duties. 

There  can  be  no  dispute  as  to  what  followed  the  tariff 
changes  of  1879,  though  there  is  much  dispute  as  to  the  de- 
gree of  responsibility.  Confidence  was  restored  and  enter- 
prise revived.  Soup  kitchens,  which  had  been  established  for 
paupers  and  the  unemployed  in  large  centres,  disappeared, 
and  "good  times"  came  as  if  by  magic.  Giving  every  credit 
in  this  latter  respect  to  the  easier  circumstances  of  the  people' 
in  the  United  States  at  this  period  it  still  seems  evident  that 
had  the  tariff  gates  remained  down,  the  prosperity  on  the 
other  side  of  the  line  could  have  only  meant  increased  pro- 
duction there  and  larger  exports  of  goods  and  products  to  the 
Canadian  market.  Revival  here  would,  consequently,  have 
been  very  slow,  if,  indeed,  it  had  come  at  all.  Leaving  proba- 
bilities and  assumptions  aside,  however,  it  is  clear  that  a  new 

DOMINION — 15 


338 


THE  STORY   OF   THE   DOMINION 


i! 


spirit  did  develop  in  the  young  community  and  that  hopeless- 
ness and  listlessness  in  business  disappeared  to  a  very  great 
extent.  Exports  grew  from  $79,323,000  in  1878  to'  $121,- 
013,000  in  1896;  imports  expanded  from  $93,089,000  to 
$108,011,000;  trade  with  Great  Britain  grew  from  $83,089,- 
000  to  $99,670,000,  and  with  the  United  States  from  $73,- 
876,000  to  $103,022,000.  With  France  and  Germany,  with 
South  American  countries  and  China  and  Japan,  coimnerce 
steadily  developed. 

Manufacturing  interests  increased  and  improved  in  a  most 
marked  manner.  Between  1881  and  1891,  according  to  the 
census  returns,  the  number  of  establishments  increased  by 
26,000,  the  capital  invested  by  $189,000,000,  the  number  of 
employees  by  115,000,  the  wages  paid  by  $41,000,000,  the 
value  of  the  manufactured  product  by  $166,000,000.  The 
revenue  rose  from  $22,517,000  in  1879  to  $38,579,000  in 
1891,  while  between  those  years  $77,000,000  were  expended 
upon  railways,  $22,000,000  upon  canals  and  waterway  im- 
provements, and  $25,000,000  upon  public  buildings  and  pub- 
lic works.  Meantime,  the  debt  of  the  country,  also,  increased 
from  $140,000,000  in  1878  to  $253,000,000  in  1895,  and 
the  taxation  per  head  from  $4.37  to  $5.02.  The  large  im- 
ports of  American  farm  products  were  greatly  restricted,  and 
the  export  of  cattle,  sheep,  and  provisions  to  Great  Britain 
grew  from  a  practically  stationary  figure  of  $7,000,000  in 
in  1879  to  $28,045,000  in  1895.  Manitoba  and  the  North- 
West  steadily  developed  and  villages  grew  into  cities,  while 
the  trade  between  the  Provinces  came  to  exceed  $100,000,000 
in  value. 

Of  course,  all  this  admitted  expansion  was  not  without 
corresponding  diminution  in  certain  lines  of  trade ;  suffering 
from  external  influences  such  as  the  McKinley  tariff;  ups 
and  downs  in  financial  feeling  and  popular  prosperity.  But 
there  has  never  since  1878  been  any  condition  even  compara- 
ble with  the  state  of  affairs  then.  In  the  general  elections 
of  1882  and  1887  and  1891  the  chief  issue  before  the  people 
was  the  tariff — though  complicated  in  the  latter  years  by 


m 


CONSTRUCTION  OF  CANADIAN  PACIFIC  RAILWAY    889 

the  Kiel  question,  and  the  inevitable  turmoil  of  a  racial  and 
religious  cry.  Whether  the  Liberal  party  in  these  years  was 
led  by  Edward  Blake  or  Wilfrid  Laurier;  whether  it  sup- 
ported a  revenue  tariff  as  in  1882,  incidental  protection  as  in 
1887,  or  unrestricted  reciprocity  as  in  1891,  the  real  issue 
was  always  the  tariff.  The  National  Policy,  or  something 
else,  was  the  question  before  the  people,  and  on  each  occanion 
the  former  won.  In  189C,  the  Manitoba  School  matter  over- 
shadowed everything,  «nd  the  prolonged  tariff  controversy 
was  allowed  to  lapse  into  the  limbo  of  forgotten  issues. 

A  tariff  for  protection  as  well  as  for  revenue  was  then 
finally  accepted  as  settled,  and  the  issue  of  the  future  came 
to  hinge,  not  upon  the  time-honored  and  world-wide  battle 
between  free  trade  and  protection,  but  upon  the  development 
and  details  of  an  Imperial  trade  policy,  in  which  sentiment 
was  to  play  a  prominent  part,  and  a  compromise  of  hitherto 
opposing  principles  prove  the  only  possible  settlement. 


;  ,  ^  CnAPTER    XXII 

CONSTRUCTION  OF  THE  CANADIAN  PACIFIC  RAILWAY 

WHATEVER  the  effects  of  the  National  Policy  in 
an  economic  sense,  there  can  be  no  doubt  that  it 
increased  the  revenues  by  $13,000,000  in  three 
years,  decreased  the  business  failures  from  $29,000,000 
in  1879,  to  $5,700,000  in  1881,  steadily  developed  inter-pro- 
vincial trade  and  mutual  interests,  and  witnessed,  during 
its  first  four  years  of  life,  an  increase  of  $77,000,000  in  the 
external  commerce  of  the  country.  Of  course,  there  were 
subsidiary  causes  for  this  sudden  development  of  good  times, 
but  the  people  as  a  whole  were  inclined  to  credit  the  Na- 
tional Policy  with  much  of  the  expansion  which  followed 
its  establishment. 

TWO   FACTOES   OF  INDIVIDUAL  AND   PUBLIC    SELF-CONFIDENCE 

Two  facts  are  undoubted  amid  all  the  conflicting  confu- 
sion of  current  fiscal  argument.      They  were  really  inter- 


II 


840 


ff  '»' 


THE   STORY   OF   THE   DOMINION      %.?;i\iO 


changeable,  and  included  the  restoration  of  ])iiblic  confidence 
in  private  and  public  enterprises  of  a  financial  character,  and 
the  growth  of  a  national  sentiment  which  made  the  building 
of  the  Canadian  Pacific  Railway  a  possibility.  Without  these 
two  factors  of  individual  and  public  self-confidence,  neither 
the  revenues,  nor  the  credit,  nor  the  sentiment  of  the  coun- 
try would  have  permitted  the  carrying  out  of  so  huge  an 
undertaking. 

Sir  John  Macd  tiald  had  tried  to  initiate  the  enterprise, 
in  1873,  by  means  of  private  companies  of  capitalists,  and 
had  failed  in  the  midst  of  an  almost  obscuring  cloud  of  scan- 
dal and  slander.  Mr.  Mackenzie's  Government  had  endeav- 
ored also  to  keep  the  pact  entered  into  with  British  Columbia, 
when  that  Province  joined  Confederation,  in  1872,  upon 
the  promise  of  a  railway  over  the  vast  prairies  and  sea  of 
mountains  which  lay  between  it  and  the  rest  of  Canada.  He 
had  developed  a  scheme  of  gradual  and  economical  building, 
under  which  contracts  were  let  by  the  Government  for  bits 
of  road  between  given  bodies  of  water  and  over  the  easier 
stretches  of  land.  There  was  no  continuity  of  work  or  com- 
pleteness of  policy.  The  difficult  parts  of  the  undertaking, 
such  as  the  route  around  the  north  shore  of  Lake  Superior 
and  through  the  Rocky  Mountains,  were  conveniently  post- 
poned, and  the  lakes  on  the  route  were  to  be  used  as  navigable 
portions  of  the  line  instead  of  the  railway  being  taken 
around  them.  Wlien  Sir  John  Macdonald  came  into  power 
again,  in  1878,  he  found  that  solitary  lines  of  railway,  scat- 
tered here  and  there,  were  completed,  or  under  way,  but  were 
without  bond  of  union  or  any  very  practical  efficiency. 

THE   IMPORTANCE    OF   THIS    CO  •*'^'  tt'         L    ROUTE 

As  soon  as  other  matter'^^   •T«»fr  iod  was  turned 

to  the  necessity  of  more  i  ai  ^ar      d  action.      The 

public  had  at  last  grasped  some  vtent  the  importance  of 
this  continental  route  to  the  un  v  and  expansion  of  the 
Dominion;  British  Columbia  was  pressing  for  the  irrying 
out  of  Federal  pledges;  and  the  acceptance  of  the       vv  Na- 


CONSTRUCTION  OF  CANADIAN  PACIFIC  RAILWAY    841 


tional  Policy  tariff,  as  presented  to  Parliament  by  Sir  Leon- 
ard Tilley  in  the  Session  of  1879,  had  cleared  the  political 
path  and  promised  to  provide  steadily  growing  revenues  to 
the  Government.  Some  efforts  had  been  made  in  the  mean- 
time to  carry  on  Mackenzie's  plan,  and  further  small  con- 
tracts had  been  actually  entered  into.  But,  in  1879,  the 
opportunity  presented  itst^lf  for  a  renewal  of  the  old  policy 
of  1873  under  stronger  and  better  auspices.  A  small  Syndi- 
cate of  Canadian  and  American  capitalists  had  l)ccn  latterly 
operating  the  St.  Paul  and  Pacific  Railway — a  line  running 
through  Jlilinncsota  to  the  international  border  and  connecting 
there  with  the  Pembina  and  Winnipeg  branch  of  the  proposed 
continental  road. 

With  those  men  and  some  others,  including  George  Stephen, 
Duncan  Mclntyre,  and  Donald  A.  Smith,  of  Montreal;  R. 
B.  Angus,  of  the  Bank  of  Montreal ;  J.  S.  Kennedy,  of  New 
York;  Morton,  Rose  &  Company,  of  Ix)ndon,  and  James  J. 
Hill,  of  iimerican  railway  fame,  the  Government  commenced 
negotiations  for  the  assumption  of  the  greater  enterprise. 
Sir  Charles  Tupper,  who  was  Minister  of  Railways  from  1879 
to  1884,  impressed  his  usual  energy  and  force  upon  the  mat- 
ter, and,  on  May  10,  1879,  moved  a  series  of  Resolutions  in 
the  House  of  Commons  embodying  the  policy  of  the  Govern- 
ment and  promising  100,000,000  acres  of  North-West  land 
to  any  Company  taking  up  the  work.  A  contract  was  finally 
made  with  the  syndicate  for  the  building  of  the  line  and  for 
the  payment  by  Government  of  $25,000,000  in  cash,  with  a 
grant  of  25,000,000  acres  of  land  in  alternate  lots  along  the 
route.  On  December  13,  1880,  Sir  C.  Tupper  moved  the 
acceptance  of  the  arrangement  by  Parliament,  and  fought  tho 
measure  through  the  House  in  long  and  able  and  forceful 
speeches. 

But  this  is  anticipating  the  narrative.  It  had  seemed 
possible,  in  1873,  after  the  fall  of  the  Macdonald  Govern- 
ment, that  the  railway  project  might  fall  with  it.  The 
new  Government  and  the  Liberal  party  did  not,  certainly, 
appear  enthusiastic  over  what  they  truly  felt  to  be  the  as- 


842 


THE   STORY   OF   THE   DOMINION       X^^vv^t 


sumption  of  vast  responsibilities.  They  lacked  faith  to  some 
extent  in  the  future,  and  this  is  the  worst  that  can  be  said 
of  their  attitude  and  subsequent  policy.  The  project  was  an 
enormous  one  for  a  Government  to  assume  which  had  only 
some  scattered  and  not  wealthy  Provinces  to  depend  upon 
and  a  population  of  less  than  5,000,000  at  its  back.  More- 
over, the  Liberal  party  had  never  approved  of  the  pledge  to 
British  Columbia,  and  would  have  very  naturally  been  glad 
of  relief  from  the  burden  of  the  now  evident  obligation.  See- 
ing this  situation  at  Ottawa,  Lieutenant-Governor  Si^*  J.  W. 
Trutcli,  of  British  Columbia,  had  hastened  on  behalf  of  his 
Government  to  register,  in  1873,  a  protest  against  further 
delay. 

Much  correspx)ndence  followed,  and  in  February,  1874, 
the  Mackenzie  Government  decided  to  send  a  special  envoy 
to  the  distant  end  of  the  Dominion,  in  order  to  ascertain  the 
exact  state  of  public  opinion  in  the  Province;  to  see  if  it 
were  possible  to  arrange  conditions  under  which  the  railway 
might  be  built  and  slowly  completed  without  reference  to  the 
promised  ten  years  of  the  Confederation  compact;  to,  in 
short,  feel  the  public  pulse  as  to  a  change  in  the  terms  of 
Union.  They  selected  Mr.  (afterward  Sir)  J.  D.  Edgar  for 
the  mission,  and  armed  him  with  many  letters  and  elaborate 
instructions.  On  the  9th  of  March  he  arrived  in  Victoria, 
and,  eventually,  submitted  proposals  which  involved  the  im- 
mediate commencement  and  rapid  completion  by  the  Domin- 
ion of  a  local  railway  from  Esquimalt  to  Kanairao,  on  Van- 
couver Island;  the  speedy  settlement  of  the  route  to  be 
followed  by  the  railway  on  the  mainland ;  the  immediate 
building  of  a  wagon-road  through  the  almost  impassable 
mountains  and  of  a  telegraph  line  across  the  continent;  the 
expenditure  of  a  minimum  amount  of  $1,500,000  annually 
iipon  the  road,  within  the  Rockies,  until  it  was  completed. 


FIRST   STEPS   IN   CONSTRUCTION 

_,.'-;,'■■■■■>  ■-■•■,, ,.  . 

The  discussion  was  fruitless,  whether  because  of  a  lack 
of  diplomacy  and  tact  upon  Mr.  Edgar's  part,  as  one  reputa- 


CONSTRUCTION  OF  CANADIAN  PACIFIC  RAILWAY    343 

ble  liistorian  states,*  or  because  the  Provincial  Government 
wanted  their  full  pound  of  flesh.  In  June  the  proposals  were 
withdrawn,  the  envoy  recalled,  and  Mr.  George  A.  Walkem, 
the  Premier  of  British  Columbia,  went  to  London  to  lay  his 
case  before  the  Colonial  Secretary  and  the  Imperial  authori- 
ties. A  triangular  controversy  followed,  somo  of  it  decidedly 
acrimonious,  until,  finally,  all  parties  agreed  to  accept  the 
Earl  of  Carnarvon  as  arbitrator  in  the  affair.  His  pro])osed 
terms  of  settlement  were  submitted  to  Lord  Dufferin  in  a 
despatch  dated  !N^ovember  17,  1874,  and  may  be  summed  up 
as  follows:  .    .  •;         -t      :    f      .^  ;■; 

1.  The  rapid  Inilding  of  the  !Nanaimo-Esquimalt  Rail- 
way. 

2.  The  pressing  of  the  mainland  surveys  and  the  selection 
of  a  definite  route  over  the  mountains  with  all  possible  de- 
spatch. 

3.  The  immediate  construction  of  the  wagon-road  and  tele- 
graph lines. 

4.  The  minimum  expenditure  of  $2,000,000  a  year  upon 
railway  works,  within  the  Province,  from  the  moment  that 
the  surveys  should  be  completed. 

5.  The  completion  of  the  railway  and  its  readiness  for 
traffic,  from  the  Pacific  seaboard  to  the  western  end  of  Lake 
Superior,  by  December  31,  1890. 

Some  of  the  details  in  this  compromise  were  not  very  ac- 
ceptable to  the  Dominion  Government,  but  they  abided  by  the 
settlement,  as  arranged,  end  an  Order-in-Council  was  issued 
on  December  18th.  expressing  their  adhesion  to  its  terms. 
Then  began  the  detached  method  of  construction  already  re- 
ferred to.  Naturally,  the  Conservative  Opposition  had  en- 
deavored to  make  capital  out  of  the  slowness  of  operations. 
On  March  13th,  Dr.  Tupper  moved  a  long  Resolution  em- 
bodying the  since  generally  accepted  view  of  Canada's  respon- 
sibility in  the  matter,  and  urging  the  Government  "to  employ 


•  Dr.  George  Stewart.    "Canada  Under  the  Administration  of  the  Earl 
of  Dufferin." 


n 


844 


TEE   STORY    OF   THE   DOMINION    vl'/»*  r 


I 


the  available  funds  of  the  Dominion"  for  the  completion  of 
the  road.  This  was  defeated  on  a  party  division.  In  the 
succeeding  year,  on  March  28th,  Mr.  Amor  de  Cosmos,  of 
British  Columbia,  moved  a  lengthy  Resolution  of  censure 
upon  the  Government  for  its  slowness  in  carrying  out  the 
pledges  of  the  Dominion  to  his  Province.  It  only  received 
seven  votes.  A  motion  by  Mr.  G.  W.  Ross,  afterward  Prime 
Minister  of  Ontario,  declaring  that  the  expenditure  should 
only  be  such  as  "the  resources  of  the  country  will  permit 
without  increasing  the  existing  rates  of  ti  xation,"  was  car- 
ried, and  an  amendment  proposed  on  behalf  of  the  Opposi- 
tion by  Mr.  J.  Burr  Plumb,  and  stating  that  the  country  was 
pledged  to  the  undertaking,  that  the  surveys  should  be  ener- 
gtiically  pressed  and  the  construction  of  the  road  prosecuted 
with  rapidity,  was  voted  down.  On  April  21,  1877,  Dr.  Tup- 
per  presented  a  motion  of  censure  upon  the  Government  for 
their  general  railway  policy.  It  was  negatived  by  a  party 
vote. 

During  the  succeeding  year  the  Conservative  party  came 
into  power,  and  on  May  10,  1879,  the  new  Minister  of  Rail- 
ways and  Canals — Sir  Charles  Tupper — moved  a  lengthy 
Resolution  detailing  the  engagement  of  Canada  to  build  the 
Canadian  Paciflb  Line ;  its  importance  as  "a  great  Imperial 
highway  across  the  continent  of  America  entirely  on  British 
soil" ;  its  desirability  as  providing  a  route  for  trade  and  com- 
merce to  China,  Japan,  and  the  Far  East ;  and  setting  forth 
an  elaborate  plan  for  construction  under  the  auspices  of  the 
Government  and  by  means,  chiefly,  of  a  grant  of  100,000,000 
acres  of  North- West  lands.  Mr.  Mackenzie  promptly  moved 
an  amendment  recapitulating  Liberal  policy  and  denouncing 
any  further  increase  in  taxation.  The  original  motion,  of 
course,  carried.  During  the  ensuing  Session  of  1880  Mr. 
Edward  Blake  proposed  a  much  more  drastic  Resolution 
against  the  Government's  railway  policy  and  asked  the  House, 
without  success,  to  declare  that  "the  public  interests  require 
that  the  work  of  constructing  the  Pacific  Railway  in  British 
Columbia  be  postponed." 


CONSTRUCTION  OF  CANADIAN  PACIFIC  RAILWAY    345 


Meanwhile,  however,  the  Canadian  Pacific  Syndicate  was 
formed  as  already  described,  and  after  prolonged  negotiation 
arrangements  were  entered  into  with  the  Government.  In 
accordance  with  this  agreement  Sir  Charles  Tupper  moved  in 
the  House,  on  December  13,  1880,  that  it  was  expedient  to 
grant  25,000,000  acres  of  land  and  a  subsidy  of  $25,000,000 
cash  for  the  construction  of  the  road.  Prolonged  debates 
followed  in  which  Messrs.  Blake,  Cartwright,  and  Mills  were 
pitted  against  Sir  Charles  with  results  which  did  not  reflect 
discredit  upon  the  forceful  Minister  of  Railways.  Many 
amendments  were  proposed  and  rejected — notably  one  by 
Sir  Richard  Cartwright  declaring  that  the  whole  contract 
was  objectionable  and  the  consideration  excessive.  These 
amendments  were  almost  innumerable  and  were  proposed, 
among  others,  by  Messrs.  Laurier,  Mills,  Anglin,  F.  W. 
Borden,  Paterson,  Charlton,  Rinfret,  G.  W.  Ross,  M.  C. 
Cameron,  P.  B.  Casgrain,  and  George  E.  Casey.  All  were 
antagonistic  and  all  were  defeated  on  strict  party  lines.  The 
discussions  were  exceedingly  keen  and  at  times  fierce. 

By  the  terms  of  the  contract,  as  finally  passed  in  the  Ses- 
sion of  1881,  the  Syndicate  undertook  to  form  a  Company 
and  build  the  road  to  the  Pacific  within  ten  years,  and  after- 
ward to  operate  it,  for  the  consideration  in  lands  and  money, 
as  above.  They  were,  of  course,  to  have  the  right  of  way 
through  public  lands  and  the  necessary  ground  for  stations, 
docks,  etc.  Steel  rails,  telegraph  wire,  and  other  articles 
for  use  were  to  be  duty  free,  and  the  sections  of  railway 
already  built — from  Lake  Superior  to  Winnipeg,  from  Em- 
erson to  St.  Boniface,  and  from  Burrard's  Inlet  to  Savona'a 
Ferry — were  to  be  handed  over  by  the  Government  to  the 
Company.  All  the  Company's  property  connected  with  the 
road  and  its  capital  stock  were  to  be  free  of  taxation.  The 
Government  also  undertook  that  no  line  south  of  the  rail- 
way should  be  chartered  by  the  Dominion,  or  by  any  Province 
created  by  it,  except  in  a  southerly  direction.  This  l^'^t  pro- 
vision afterward  became  famous  as  the  "monopoly  clause'* 
and  the  cause  of  much  excited  controversy. 


s^e 


THE   STORY   OF   THE  DOMINION 


FINANCIAL  HISTORY  OF  THE  RAILWAY 

.  »;     '  .■■:  t    ;■'  -1     '     ,    '  -■■■■        t  ;* 

The  work  before  the  new  Company  was  no  easy  under- 
taking. The  difficulties  of  construction  were  enor  lous;  the 
engineering  skill  needed  to  overcome  them  now  seems  to 
have  been  little  short  of  the  marvelous;  the  costliness  of 
many  portions  of  the  line  was  as  great  as  the  obstacles  of 
nature  were  threatening.  It  required  gigantic  faith  to  enter 
upon  the  plan  of  construction;  immense  energy  and  financial 
skill  to  carry  it  through.  N^or  were  conditions  very  favor- 
able to  the  large  monetary  operations  which  were  necessary. 
The  initial  capital  of  the  Company  was  $5,000,000,  issued 
at  par,  and  this  was  increased  in  1882  to  $25,000,000 — the 
new  stock  being  allotted  to  existing  shareholders  at  25  per 
cent  of  par.  A  little  later  it  was  increased  to  $100,000,000, 
and  $40,000,000  of  this  was  sold  at  an  average  of  52  per 
cent,  while  the  balance  was  deposited  with  the  Dominion 
Government.  In  1885,  $35,000,000  of  this  latter  amount 
was  canceled.  The  Company  also  issued  $25,000,000  of  first- 
mortgage  5  per  cent  50-year  land-grant  bonds,  of  which  the 
greater  part  was  afterward  redeemed.  ' 

This  summary  of  financial  operations  gives  no  idea,  how- 
ever, of  the  struggles  and  vicissitudes,  the  sacrifices  aud  pos- 
sible ruin,  which  were  faced  by  the  men  in  control  of  the 
Company  and  the  project  during  these  years.  In  London, 
where  most  of  the  money  had  to  be  obtained,  a  lukewarm 
feeling  existed  toward  the  enterprise.  Moneyed  men  were 
influenced  by  the  natural  hostility  of  the  Grand  Trunk  Rail- 
way toward  this  new  and  formidable  competitor;  by  the 
tremendous  difficulties  which  nature  had  placed  in  its  path; 
and  by  the  double  fact  of  so  many  millions  of  English  capital 
bar  g  been  already  thrown  away  in  the  Grand  Trunk  and 
of  more  millions  being  menaced  by  the  success  of  any  new 
rival.  It  was,  of  course,  fully  expected  and  understood  that 
the  railway  could  not  remain  a  western  one,  but  would  seek 
eastern  connections  and  make  itself,  in  time,  a  truly  conti- 
nental line.     "To  write  the  history  of  the  battle,'*  says  one 


CONSTRUCTION  OF  CANADIAN  PACIFIC  RAILWAY    347 


the 


XJlly 


;hat 
eek 
nti- 
one 


writer,*  "which  the  Directors  of  the  Canadian  Pacific  Rail- 
way had  to  fight  in  England  at  the  ouvset  would  require  sev- 
eral volumes." 

Distrust  and  fear  and  political  enmity  in  Canada  also  ex- 
ercised a  powerful  indirect  effect  upon  the  credit  of  the 
Company  abroad.  The  Opposition  in  Parliament  denounced 
both  policy  and  project  over  and  over  again  and  with  ever- 
increasing  energy.  A  part  of  the  Canadian  press  followed 
suit  and  the  platforms  of  the  country  in  the  elections  of 
1882  rang  the  changes  of  a  most  persistent  pedsimism  re- 
garding the  whole  enterprise.  Coupled  with  the  already 
instinctive  hostility  of  vested  interests  this  sort  of  thing  had 
a  natural  effect  in  the  money  market  and  upon  the  resources 
of  thf  Company.  They  went  on  vigorously  and  rapidly,  how- 
ever, with  the  construction,  and  in  the  autumn  of  1881  Mr. 
(afterward  Sir)  William  C.  Van  Home  became  General 
Manager.  In  1883,  the  Directorate  was  composed  of  Messrs. 
George  Stephen,  R.  B.  Angus,  W.  C.  Van  Home,  and  Don- 
ald A.  Smith,  representative  of  Canadian  interests,  and 
Messrs.  John  Turnbull,  H.  Stafford  Northcote  (now  Lord 
Northcote),  C.  D.  Rose,  Baron  J.  de  Reinach,  R.  V.  Martin- 
son, and  W.  L.  Scott,  representative  of  English  or  foreign 
interests. 

During  this  year  and  the  early  part  of  1884  a  crisis  in 
the  affairs  of  the  Company  developed.  Their  money  grant 
from  the  Dominion  had  been  expended,  the  proceeds  of  stock 
sales  had  gone  into  construction,  the  private  resources  of 
some  of  the  Canadians  concerned — notably  George  Stephen 
and  Donald  A.  Smith — had  been  pledged,  the  Bank  of  Mont- 
real itself  had  become  deeply  concerned.  More  money  was 
absolutely  necessary  and  more  money  seemed  impossible  to 
obtain.  The  influence  of  rivals  and  the  prolonged  teachings 
of  political  pessimism  were  having  their  inevitable  innings. 
Much  of  the  railway  was  built  and  money  should  have  been 
comparatively  easy  to  raise  at  this  stage  of  construction; 

•  Alexander  Begg,  of  Winnipeg,  in  his  "History  of  Manitoba." 


848 


I  K'i 


THE  STORY   OF  THE  DOMINION    ^'^*^'^'  ?^> 


but  such  was  not  the  case.  London,  under  the  vari- 
ous influences  described,  would  not  invest,  and  the  suc- 
cess of  the  whole  enterprise,  the  financial  credit  of 
Canada,  the  future  prosperity  of  the  Dominion,  hung  in 
the  balance. 

The  Company  approached  the  Government  for  a  loan  of 
$22,500,000  and  the  Government  hesitated.  They  naturally 
feared  the  fresh  responsibility ;  they  knew  that  public  opinion 
had  been  greatly  worked  up  against  further  financial  con- 
nection with  the  Company;  they  were  doubtful  of  their  own 
supporters  in  the  House.  What  foliowed  is  one  of  those 
secrets  of  later  Canadian  history  not  yet  known  to  the  public 
and  only  known  in  full  to  a  very  few.  Opinion  in  the  Cab- 
inet was  divided,  and  had  it  not  been  for  the  persistent  efforts 
of  Sir  Frank  Smith,  backed  up  by  the  ever-cheerful  optimism 
of  Sir  John  Macdonald  and  the  sturdy  determination  of  Sir 
Charles  Tupper,  it  is  hard  to  say  what  the  result  might  have 
been.  Eventually  a  rearrangement  was  made.  The  loan  was 
granted — and  repaid  within  two  years — ^upon  the  transfer  to 
the  Government  of  the  land-grants  and  of  certain  branch 
lines  which  had  been  built  or  purchased  by  the  Company 
in  Ontario,  Quebec,  and  Manitoba.  The  Company  stripped 
themselves  of  everything  in  order  to  proceed  with  and  com- 
plete the  work,  and  in  doing  so  saved  the  railway  from  col- 
lapse, themselves  from  ruin,  and  the  country  from  a  setback 
which  would  have  retarded  its  prosperity  and  growth  by  a 
quarter  of  a  century. 

The  agreement  passed  through  Parliament,  after  bitter  op- 
position, and  its  passage  marked  the  beginning  of  the  end. 
The  continental  railway  was  very  soon  a  fact,  and,  on  June 
28,  1886,  a  through  passenger  service  between  Montreal  and 
Vancouver  was  inaugurated.  Meanwhile,  a  steamship  line 
had  been  established  on  Lakes  Huron  and  Superior,  a  tele- 
graph service  completed  along  the  line  of  railway,  and  im- 
mense  elevators  for  the  storage  of  grain  built  at  Port  Arthur, 
Fort  William,  and  Montreal. 


CONSTRUCTION  OF  CANADIAN  PACIFIC  RAILWAY   349 


THE   GEEATNESS  OF  THE  UNDEETAKING 

The  difficulties  offered  by  nature  to  the  actual  construc- 
tion of  this  trans-continental  line  were  tremendous;  the 
scenery  along  the  route  infinitely  grand  and  varied.  The  rail- 
way had  been  carried  around,  or  through,  the  massive  cliffs 
of  red  granite  which  nature  has  thrown  into  innumerable 
shapes  and  marvelous  conformations  along  the  northern  shores 
of  Lake  Superior.  Kugged  and  seamed  with  trees,  or  smooth 
and  bare  in  straight  up  and  down  masses  of  rock,  these  great 
walls  now  guarded  one  side  of  the  thin  line  of  rail  which 
stamped  the  course  of  civilized  progress  through  these  vast 
wilds  of  rock  and  forest  and  water.  Tunnels  and  immense 
trestle-bridges,  prolonged  blasting  operations,  and  the  scien- 
tific precision  of  engineering  skill  had  opened  up  in  this  case 
a  country  of  the  greatest  mineral  resources.  On  through  the 
forests  and  uplands  and  myriad  lakes  and  rivers  of  the  region 
between  Port  Arthur  and  Winnipeg,  over  the  thousand  miles 
of  prairie  to  the  foot  of  the  Rockies,  the  road  had  been  run. 
Then,  for  days  of  rapid  travel,  it  had  worked  its  way  amid 
the  cloud-crowned,  snow-capped  peaks  of  the  greatest  of  the 
world's  mountain  ranges.* 

Green,  gray,  solemn,  and  massive,  these  vti?!  phenomena 
of  nature  now  looked  dowa  upon,  or  were  ptn;  rated  by,  that 
little  line  of  rail  which  marked  the  conquest  oi  the  inanimate 
by  the  animate.  Down  the  deepest  of  grades  and  up  the  sides 
of  the  most  forbidding  of  lofty  mountains,  with  their  crests 
encircled  by  everlasting  storms  and  capped  with  eternal  snows, 
the  railway  wound  its  path  through  tunnels  and  over  trestle- 
bridges  ;  along  the  banks  of  rushing  rivers  and  wildly  strug- 
gling mountain  torrents ;  through  the  vast  valley  of  the  Kick' 
ing-Horee  and  over  huge  canyons  and  chasms;  through  the 
inarvelous  scenery  of  Roger's  Pass  and  down  the  sides  of 


*  Crossinpf  these  ranges  in  1891,  the  writer  met  Sir  Edwin  Arnold,  the 
author  of  "The  Light  of  Asia,"  who  told  him  that,  in  his  opinion,  they 
exceeded  in  grandeur  the  Himalayas,  the  Alps,  or  the  Andes — all  of 
which  he  had  seen. 


ill 


860      i(   iri  THE  STORY   OF   THE   DOMINION 


^$ 


the  roaring  Fraser.  Neither  Canada  nor  its  great  railway 
can,  indeed,  be  understood  or  appreciated — in  either  grandeur 
of  scenery  or  difficulty  of  construction — until  these  moun- 
tains of  British  Columbia  are  pictured  before  the  eye  of  the 
mind. 

Lines  of  mountain  peaks  rise  out  of  great  valleys,  in  which 
a  large  river  at  times  looks  to  the  traveler  in  the  train  like  a 
silver  thread,  and  tower  up  into  the  clouds.  Here  and  there 
huge  glaciers  are  visible  and  the  alternations  of  view  afforded 
by  the  lofty  summits  and  sides  of  the  principal  peaks,  such 
as  those  of  the  Hermit,  or  Mount  Stephen,  or  Mount  Mac- 
donald,  are  simply  superb.  Sunset,  sunrise,  or  a  snowstorm 
produce  the  most  beautiful  effects  in  coloring  at  the  hands  of 
nature — the  greatest  master  of  all  art.  Green  and  brown, 
purple  and  black,  blue  and  white,  are  developed  according 
to  the  weather  and  the  time  of  day  and  sometimes  all  at  once. 
Intensely  dark  and  sombre  and  gloomy  is  the  scene,  or  beauti- 
ful in  the  most  varied,  fantastic,  and  splendid  forms.  The 
transformations  are  never-ending.  Here,  perhaps,  will  be  visi- 
ble upon  a  dark  mountain  side  lines  of  low  trees,  or  shrubs, 
scattered  amid  the  forests  of  pine  and  looking  like  rivers  of 
grass;  there,  silvery  streaks  of  snow.  Here,  a  huge  glacier 
of  eternal  ice;  there,  something  looking  like  a  vast  pile  of 
coral  heaped  in  gigantic  shapes  by  some  demoniac  or  fan- 
tastic god  of  ancient  mythology.  Everywhere  are  the  banks 
of  rushing  rivers — the  Bow,  the  Kicking-Horse,  the  Colum- 
bia, the  Beaver,  the  Illicilliwaet,  the  Eagle,  the  Thompson, 
or  the  magnificent  Eraser. 

Eunning  down  the  mountain  sides,  skipping  in  merry  cas- 
cades and  myriad  colors  across  or  beside  the  railway,  tearing 
wildly  down  steep  inclines,  rushing  over  huge  rocks  or  preci- 
pices, roaring  between  massive  stone-walls — turbulent  or 
peaceful,  grand  or  beautiful — these  rivers  and  streams  present 
a  thousand  varied  charms.  The  scenery  along  the  Fraser  is 
simply  matchless.  In  many  places  the  great  river  is  forced 
between  cliffs,  or  vertical  walls  of  rock,  and  foams  and  roars 
like  some  imprisoned  giant  of  nature  fighting  to  be  free.    The 


CONSTRUCTION  OF  CANADIAN  PACIFIC  RAILWAY    351 

railway  is  often  cut  into  the  cliffs  hundreds  of  feet  above  and 
tunnels  pierced  through  solid  rock  follow  each  other  in  rapid 
succession.  After  passing  Yale  the  mountains  moderate  in 
size  and  grandeur,  the  Rockies  and  the  Selkirks  gradually  be- 
come things  of  the  past — lingering  forever  in  the  memories 
of  the  traveler — and  the  beautiful  valleys  and  villages  and 
fruit-farms  of  the  coast  region  come  into  view. 

Such  are  some  of  the  scenes  and  obstacles  which  marked  the 
labors  of  construction  and  stamped  the  event  with  elements 
of  greatness  which  led  the  London  "Times"  to  declare*  that 
the  conception  of  this  trans-continental  line  was  "a  magnifi- 
cent act  of  faith  on  the  part  of  the  Canadian  Dominion,"  and 
that  the  small  population  of  the  country  spread,  as  it  was, 
over  so  vast  a  territory,  had  "conceived  and  executed  within 
a  few  years  a  work  which  a  generation  ago  might  well  have 
appalled  the  wealthiest  and  most  powerful  of  nations."  With 
the  completion  of  the  railway,  four  years  before  the  original 
contract  had  called  for  it,  there  ended  the  prolonged  political 
fight  over  its  construction.  In  the  words  of  Mr.  Blake  at 
Vancouver  on  April  30,  1891 :  "When  the  railway  was  built 
and  finished  I  felt,  myself,  that  it  was  useless  to  continue  the 
controversy  longer  in  deference  to  the  whole  country  which 
Canada  had  risked  so  much  to  retain." 


LATER    POLICY    OF    THE    COMPANY 

Much  more  remained  to  be  done,  however,  before  the 
through  line  which  had  required  so  much  of  persistence, 
pluck,  and  financial  and  engineering  skill  to  construct  could 
be  a  dividend-paying  concern.  One  of  the  first  steps  was  to 
gradually  acquire  a  number  of  smaller  lines  for  the  purpose 
of  feeding  the  main  railway  or  facilitating  its  transcontinen- 
tal business.  The  Canada  Central,  the  ^N'orth  Shore  Line, 
the  New  Brunswick  Railway  system,  the  Montreal  and  Ot- 
tawa, the  Atlantic  and  North-West,  the  Credit  Valley,  the 
Toronto,  Grey  and  Bruce,  the  St.  Lawrence  and  Ottawa,  the 
Sudbury  and  Sault  Ste.  Marie,  the  Manitoba  and  South- 

•  Editorial,  June  30,  1886. 


852 


THE  STORY   OF   THE   DOMINION 


Western,  the  Calgary  and  Edmonton,  the  Minneapolis  and 
St.  Paul,  and  a  score  of  others,  wore  amalgamated  or  acquired 
in  various  ways  until  the  total  mileage  had  become  over  7,000. 
Larger  and  better  grain  elevators  were  built;  the  sleepers  on 
the  entire  line  were  made  or  owned  by  the  Company  itself; 
splendid  hotels  were  erected  at  Vancouver,  Banff,  Montreal, 
Quebec,  and  other  places;  handsome  Clyde-built  steamers  were 
put  on  the  Great  Lakes ;  the  Empress  Line  of  steamers  was 
placed  on  the  Pacific  and  run  from  Vancouver  to  Hong-Kong ; 
another  and  similar  line  was  established  between  Vancouver 
and  Australian  ports. 

All  this  was  accomplished  within  a  few  years,  though  not 
without  further  difficulties  of  a  political  and  financial  nature. 
The  latter  were  now  easily  overcome;  the  former  included 
the  prolonged  struggle  in  Manitoba  for  the  freedom  of  that 
Province  from  the  so-called  monopoly  clause  in  the  original 
contract.  From  1880  to  1887,  tlie  agitation,  in  this  connec- 
tion, was  continuous,  and  the  demand  of  Manitoba  to  be  al- 
lowed to  build  its  own  railways  as  it  liked  was  as  energetic 
as  the  free  air  of  the  Western  prairies  could  make  it.  The 
original  protests  against  the  clause  had  been  forcible,  and  the 
claim  that  the  subsequent  Dominion  policy,  of  disallowing 
any  local  railway  charters  which  conflicted  with  it,  was  crip- 
pling Provincial  development  and  compelling  the  endurance 
of  excessive  rates,  contained  a  sufficient  element  of  fact  to 
lend  popularity  to  the  continued  protests.  At  the  same  time, 
the  Dominion  Government  were  bound  by  their  arrangement, 
and  it  had  not  really  been  an  unfair  one  in  the  beginning. 

The  Company  had  a  right  in  view  of  their  difficulties,  the 
Government  a  right  in  view  of  their  responsibilities,  to  pre- 
vent injurious  competition  to  the  new  railway  for  a  given 
period.  But  young  communities  are  like  young  men — some- 
times hot-headed  and  not  always  appreciative  of  past  obliga- 
tions and  benefits.  Hence  the  controversy  reached  an  acute 
stage,  in^  1887,  over  the  Dominion  disallowance  of  the  Red 
River  Valley  charter ;  and  the  Provincial  and  Federal  officials 
almost  came  to  blows  at  the  scene  of  construction.     Finally, 


CONSTRICTION  OF  CANADIAN  PACIFIC  RAILWAY   358 


Mr.  John  Nc  rquaj,  the  Premier,  accoiupanied  by  Mr.  Joseph 
Martin,  wen ;  to  Ottawa,  and  an  arrangement  was  come  to  by 
•which  the  "inoropoly  clauses"  were  waived  by  the  Company 
in  return  for  a  fifty-year  Dominion  guarantee  of  interest  on 
a  $15,000,000  issue  of  3^  per  cent  bonds  secured  upon  the 
Company's  unsold  lands — about  15,000,000  acres. 

Meanwhile,  the  men  who  made  the  railway  had  become 
millionaires,  as  they  deserved  to  be.  Their  energy  had  been 
herculean;  their  enterprise  as  creditable  as  their  financial 
ability  had  been  keen.  They  had  risked  everything,  in  repu- 
tation and  personal  resource,  upon  what  had  been  declared 
to  be  a  natural,  geographical,  and  finaucirvl  impossibility,  and 
they  merited  high  rewards.  Success  meant,  also,  the  knit- 
ting together  of  the  Dominion,  the  development  of  external 
trade,  the  peopling  of  the  North-West,  the  growth  of  villages 
into  towns  and  towns  into  cities,  the  fonuing  of  a  new  bond 
of  Imperial  unity.  Mr.  Stephen  was  created  a  Baronet  of 
the  United  Kingdom  by  the  Queen  in  1888,  and  became  Lord 
Mount  Stephen  in  1891.  Mr.  Donald  A.  Smith  was  created 
a  K.C.M.G.  in  1886,  a  G.C.M.G.  in  1896,  and  a  Peer  of 
the  realm  in  the  succeeding  year  as  Lord  Strathcona  and 
Mount  Royal.  Mr.  Van  Home  became  President  of  the 
Railway  in  1888,  and  a  K.C.M.G.  was  very  justly  conferred 
upon  him  six  years  afterward.  Sir  Charles  Tupper,  who, 
in  Parliament  and  out  of  it,  had  battled  so  vigorously  and 
well  for  the  great  enterprise,  became  not  only  stronger  in 
reputation  through  his  exertions  and  successful  advocacy,  but 
was  decorated  with  the  G.C.M.G.  in  1886,  and  created  a  Bar- 
onet two  years  later.  Thus,  out  of  strenuous  conflict,  politi- 
cal confusion,  and  financial  crisis,  the  railway  had  been 
created  and  developed  until  it  had  become  a  power  for  good 
in  many  things ;  a  power,  also,  for  the  advancement  at  times 
of  selfish  ends ;  a  factor  always,  in  Canadian  progress  and 
Imperial  strength,  which  all  the  world  has  been  compelled  to 
recognize. 


854 


THE  STORY   OF   THE   DOMINION 


CHAPTER     XXIII 


THE  NORTH-WEBT  AND   THE  REBELLION  OF  1885 


IT  is  interesting  and  instructive  to  note  how  often  in  his- 
tory good  appears  to  come  out  of  evil.  Nowhere  is  this 
result  more  frequently  seen  than  in  the  ultimate  conse- 
quences of  war  —  whether  the  struggle  be  great  or  small. 
Certainly,  little  but  evil  could  be  seen  in  the  year  1885  in  an 
uprising  of  the  Half-breeds  and  Indians  upon  the  vast  prairies 
of  the  North-West,  and  with  all  the  possibilities  of  pillage 
and  massacre  which  such  a  situation  presented.  Yet  out  of 
the  event  came  an  exhibition  of  united  sentiment  among  the 
people  of  Canada's  scattered  Privinces  which  had  not  been 
conceived  of ;  while  the  spectacle  of  volunteers,  from  Halifax 
to  the  far  West,  fighting  side  by  side  on  behalf  of  the  Domin- 
ion, crystallized  what  might  have  been  a  passing  enthusiasm 
into  a  permanent  and  growing  Canadianism. 

CAUSES    OF   THE   INSURRECTION" 

The  causes  of  the  trouble  were  nominally  numerous;  the 
real  cause  was  the  dominance  of  one  restless,  unscrupulous, 
flighty  character  among  a  restless  race  of  irresponsible  and 
ignorant  men.  After  the  stirring  times  at  Fort  Garry,  in 
1870,  Louis  Riel  had  not  found  his  enforced  residence  in  the 
Western  States  very  pleasant,  and  had  drifted  back,  been 
elected  to  a  seat  in  Parliament  from  a  Half-breed  constitu- 
ency, and,  after  expulsion  from  the  House,  had  once  more 
been  compelled  to  disappear  from  public  view.  But  he  kept 
up  his  connection  with  the  Half-breeds,  and  maintained  his 
reputation  as  a  sort  of  hero  and  leader  among  the  hunters  of 
the  plain  as  he  had  once  done  among  the  peasantry  around 
Port  Garry,  now  the  Winnipeg  of  a  new  era. 

In  1884,  after  the  completion  of  his  period  of  banishment, 
he  reappeared  for  a  time,  and  seemed  willing  to  live  quietly 


THE  NORTH-WEST  AND  THE  REBELLION  OF  1886     856 

and  j^aceably.  The  suspicions  of  tho  autliorities  at  Ottawa 
wore,  in  fact,  lulled  very  largely  to  rest,  altliough  they  were 
actually  engaged  in  some  measure  of  controversy  witli  tho 
Half-breed  population.  There  were  several  reasons  for  dis- 
content on  the  part  of  the  latter,  and  the  principal  one  was 
])robably  the  advance  of  the  white  man's  civilization  into  wide 
regions  hitherto  sacred  to  the  gun  of  the  adventurous  sports- 
man, the  wiles  of  the  trader  and  trapper,  and  the  wild,  free 
open  life  of  the  Half-breed  hunter.  The  whistle  of  the  loco- 
motive was  being  heard  in  the  land,  and  the  buffalo,  as  a 
result  of  utterly  reckless  shooting  and  killing,  was  disappear- 
ing from  the  region  in  which  he  had  become  the  veritable 
staff  of  life  to  both  Indian  and  Half-breed. 


DISAPPOINTED   WHITE    SETTLERS 

Moreover,  there  were  disappointed  white  settlers  scattered 
over  the  country  to  the  far  north,  where  it  had  at  first  been 
expected  the  Canadian  Pacific  would  be  built  and  their  for- 
tunes easily  made,  while  there  was  some  degree  of  anger 
among  the  Half-breeds,  or  Metis,  of  the  Territories  owing  to 
certain  land  regulations  of  the  Dominion  Government.  They 
desired  to  be  placed  in  the  same  position  as  the  Manitoba 
Half-breeds,  who  were  each  entitled  to  240  acres  and  a  patent 
of  ownership.  They  op^-Dsed  the  Government  method  of 
surveying  and  granting  lands,  and  claimed  the  right  to  fol- 
low the  immemorial  custom  of  the  French  habitants,  and  to 
locate  their  settlements  upon  the  river  banks  in  farms  of  long, 
thin  strips  of  soil  stretching  away  from  the  river  frontage. 

In  September,  1884,  a  meeting  of  Metis  was  held  at  St. 
Laurent  (a  settlement  on  the  Saskatchewan),  and  a  Bill  of 
Rights,  or  petition  of  grievances,  was  prepared,  which  asked 
for  the  subdivision  of  the  North- West  Territories  into  Prov- 
inces and  equality  of  personal  treatment  with  the  Manitoba 
Metis;  for  patents  to  be  granted  settlers  in  actual  possession 
of  land ;  for  the  sale  of  500,000  acres  of  Dominion  lands  and 
the  expending  of  the  proceeds  upon  Half-breed  schools,  hos- 
pitals, and  similar  institutions,  and  upon  seed-grain  and  im- 


356 


THE   STORY    OF   THE   DOMINION 


/rs't 


it 


plemeuts  for  the  poorer  persons  in  their  settlements;  for  the 
reservation  of  a  hundred  townships  of  swamp  lands  for  dis- 
tribution among  Half-breed  children  during  the  next  120 
years ;  for  the  maintenance  of  local  institutions ;  and  for  the 
making  of  better  provision  for  their  Indian  friends,  neigh- 
bors, and  relations. 

The  Government,  meantime,  had  appointed  a  Commission 
to  investigate  the  Half-breed  claims  and  this  action  seems 
to  show  that  whatever  there  had  been  of  slowness  in  taking 
up  the  subject  there  was  no  serious  indiiference  to  the  needs 
of  this  great  part  of  the  l^orth-West  population  and  that  a 
little  patience  would  have  brought  matters  out  all  right. 
It  was  also  stated  by  the  Dominion  authorities  in  reference 
to  the  two  chief  grievances  complained  of,  that  it  was  actu- 
ally in  the  power  of  any  Half-breed  properly  entitled  to 
it  to  obtain  a  patent  for  his  farm  by  the  ordinary  legal 
process  and  that  the  claims  put  forward  for  a  settlement 
similar  to  thf  Manitoba  one  were  made  by  the  very  men 
who  had  been  already  settled  with  in  1870.  However,  Kiel 
wanted  a  rising,  and  any  peg  in  the  way  of  complaints  was 
sufficient  to  hang  his  purpose  on.  It  is  stated  that  he  had 
the  advice  and  moral  assistance — though  not  the  armed  help 
— of  sundry'  characters  who  were  neither  Half-breeds  nor 
Indians,  and  who,  no  doubt,  ai<led  in  that  process  of  self- 
deception  in  which  he  had  already  proven  himself  an 
adept.  Disappointed  white  contractors,  disappointed  white 
land-sharks,  disappointed  white  farmers,  in  a  few  casts,  had 
something  to  do  with  the  trouble.  They  had  nothing  to 
loso  in  +he  di^'turbances  which  were  sure  to  follow  and  which 
'■  t-n  of  a  pessimistic  turn  of  n  ind  had  prophesied  long  be- 
fore the  ev3ut.  • 

On  March  22,  1885,  ths  'oovernment  received  word  that 
the  almost  inaudible  mutterings  of  suppressed  sedition  had 
)>roken  into  actual  violence,  and  that  Riel,  with  forty  men, 
had  seized  the  mail-bags  and  courier's  horses  at  a  place  called 
Duck  Lake.  This  point  was  not  fpr  from  Prince  Albert  and 
Fort  Carlton,  where  there  were  small  posts  of  North-West 


THE  NORTH-WEST  AND  THE  REBELLION  OF  1885     357 


ilf    an 
white 
had 
mg  to 
which 
ng  he- 
el that 
311  had 
Y  mcTi, 
called 
rt  and 
h-West 


Mounted  Police,  and  was  in  the  region  about  half-way  be- 
tween two  laige  Indian  reserves — with  several  Half-breed 
villages  not  far  off.  It  was  some  300  miles  from  the  line 
of  ine  Canadian  Pacific.  The  moment  was  an  anxious  one. 
Scattered  on  isolated  farms,  or  ranches,  or  in  tiny  settle- 
ments throughout  the  vast  extent  of  the  Territories  were 
many  white  people.  Around  them  and  among  them  were 
not  only  wandering  Half-breed  hunters  and  occasional  Metis 
villages,  but  thousands  of  Indian  tribes.  If  the  latter  rose 
in  arms  the  slaughter  and  suffering  of  the  white  population 
would  be  very  great.  The  500  Mnunted  Police,  located  in 
small  detachments  at  points  distant  from  one  another,  would 
have  been  of  little  use  in  saving  lives  under  any  general  rising. 

MEASURES  TAKEN  TO  SUPPRESS  THE  REBELLION 

The  Government's  action  was  prompt.  The  day  after  the 
news  had  reached  them  of  Kiel's  initial  step  the  Commander 
of  the  Militia  was  traveling  to  Winnipeg  after  a  long  inter- 
view with  Mr.  A.  P.  Caron,  the  Minister  of  Militia  and 
Defence ;  and  in  a  few  days  3,300  officers  and  men  had  been 
called  out  for  active  service  and  were  on  their  way  to  the 
North- West.  With  some  1,600  officers  and  men  who  turned 
out  from  Manitoba  and  the  Territories,  and  including  the 
Mounted  Police,  the  total  force  under  General  Middleton, 
therefore,  presently  amounted  to  over  5,400  men.*  Many 
more  thousands  wanted  to  go,  and  the  news  which  boon  came 
that,  on  March  28th,  Major  Crozier,  with  100  men  of  the 
Mounted  Police  and  Prince  Albert  Volunteers,  had  come 
into  collision  with  Riel  at  Duck  Lake  and  been  compelled  to 
retire,  leaving  his  dead  on  the  field,  fairly  electrified  the 
Dominion  with  indignation. 

The  best  regiments  of  the  militia  and  the  most  of  the 
small  regular,  or  permanent,  force  of  Canada  were,  mean- 
while, being  s-^nt  to  the  front.  The  Canadian  Permanent  Ar- 
tillery, with  its  Quebec  and  Kingston  Batteries:  the  Queen's 

*  The  official  figures  are  5,450. 


858 


THE   STORY   OF   THE   DOMINION 


Own  and  Royal  Grenadiers  of  Toronto,  under  command  of 
Lieutenant-Colonel  W.  D.  Otter;  the  Midland  Battalion,  a 
splendid  mixed  regiment  under  Lieutenant-Colonel  A.  T. 
H.  Williams,  M.  P.;  the  York  and  Simcoe  Battalion,  under 
Lieutenant-Colonel  W.  E.  O'Brien,  M.  P. ;  the  Govemor-Gen- 
eral's  Body  Guard  of  Toronto,  under  Lieutenant  Colonel  G. 
T.  Denison;  the  65th  and  9th  Battalions  of  Montreal  (French- 
Canadian),  under  Lieutenant-Colonels  Ouimet  and  Amyot  re- 
spectively; the  Halifax  Provisional  Battalion,  under  Lieu- 
tenant-Colonel Bremner;  the  Montreal  Garrison  Artillery, 
under  Lieutenant-Colonel  W.  E,.  Oswald ;  tho  Infantry  School 
Corps  of  Toronto,  the  Governor- General's  Foot  Guards  of 
Ottawa,  the  7th  Battalion  of  London,  and  the  Cavalry  School 
Corps  of  Quebec  were  the  principal  regiments,  or  in  a  lew 
cases,  portions  of  regiments^  which  went  with  all  haste  to  the 
seat  of  trouble. 

In  Manitoba  and  the  Territories  some  very  useful  troops 
were  accepted  for  immediate  service.  Winnipeg  contributed 
a  Field  Bactery,  a  Cavalry  Troop,  a  Light  Infantry  Battalion 
under  Lieutenant-Colonel  Osborne  Smith,  the  90th  Rifles 
under  Lieutenant-Colonel  McKeand,  and  the  Winnipeg  In- 
fantry Battalion  under  Lieutenant-Colonel  Thomas  Scott, 
M.  P.  From  the  Territories  came  Boulton's  Scouts,  a  gallant 
little  mounted  body  of  a  hundred  men  under  Major  (after- 
ward Senator)  C.  A.  Boulton,  the  D.  L.  S.  Scouts  of  Qi.'- 
Appelle,  the  Moose  Mountain  Scouts,  the  Rocky  Mountain 
Rangers  of  Celgary,  French's  Scouts  of  the  Territories,  and 
the  Battleford  Rifle  Company. 

The  troops  from  Ontario  and  Quebec  and  No"^"  Scotia 
had  a  weary  and  dreary  time  in  crossing  the  great  gap;:*  which 
still  existed  in  the  Canadian  Pacific  to  the  east  of  Port 
Arthur.  The  United  States  Government  would  not  permit 
an  armed  force  to  pass  over  its  territory  by  train,  so  that, 
as  in  the  previous  rising  of  1870,  much  hardship  and  even 
Buffering  had  to  be  endured.  Let  an  extract  from  the  oiHcial 
Report  of  Lieutenant-Colonel  C.  E.  Montizambert,  of  the 
Artillery,  picture  the  trying  troubles  of  this  period: 


THE  NORTH-WEST  AND  THE  REBELLION  OF  1885     359 

"About  400  miles  .  .  .  had  to  be  passed  by  a  constantly  varying 
process  of  embarking  and  disembarking  guns  and  stores  from  flat  cars 
to  country  team  sleighs  and  vice  versd.  There  were  sixteen  operations 
of  this  nature  in  cold  weather  and  deep  slow.  On  starting  from  the 
west  end  of  the  track  on  the  night  of  the  30th  of  March  the  roads  were 
found  so  bad  that  it  took  the  guns  seventeen  hours  to  do  the  distance 
{30  miles)  to  Magpie  Camp.  On  from  there  to  the  east  end  of  the  track 
by  team  sleighs  and  marching  23  miles  further  on;  on  flat  cars,  uncov- 
ered and  open,  with  the  thermometer  at  fifty  degrees  below  zero.  Huron 
Bay,  Port  Munro,  McKellar's  Bay,  Jaekfish,  Isbister,  McKay's  Harbor, 
were  passed  by  alternate  flat  cars  on  construction  tracks;  and,  teaming 
in  fearful  weather  round  the  novth  shore  of  Lake  Superior,  Nipegon  was 
reached  on  the  evening  of  the  3d  April.  The  men  had  had  no  sleep  for 
four  nights." 


But  these  and  other  ^.  rdships  of  the  campaign  were  borne 
in  a  surprisingly  cheerful  spirit  by  men  who  in  many  cases 
had  never  kno^vn  what  privation  meant,  and  had  lived  in 
luxurious  homes  or,  at  the  least,  amid  surroundings  of  con- 
siderable comfort.  All  classes  were  to  be  found  among  the 
troops.  College  graduates,  delicate-looking  clerks,  sturdy 
farmers'  sons,  men  of  independent  means  and  position — all 
actuated  with  a  common  desire  to  suppress  insurrection  upon 
Canadian  soil  and  to  protect  the  hearths  and  homes  of  Cana- 
dian citizens.  As  indicated  in  Colonel  Montizambert'^  state- 
ment, the  time  of  the  year  was  most  unsuited  for  active  cam- 
paigning. Around  the  northern  shores  of  Lake  Superior  the 
cold  was  intense  and  further  west  the  raw  chill  of  the  early 
springtime  permeated  everything,  even  when  the  actual  cold 
was  not  severe.  Transport  was  necessarily  insufficient  in  a 
force  which  had  been  called  out,  equipped  and  marched,  or 
carried,  1,000  miles  in  a  few  days.  Fortunately,  the  Hud- 
son's Bay  Company,  with  its  vast  resources  and  knowledge 
of  the  country,  rendered  splendid  assistance  under  the  man- 
agement of  Major  Bedson,  the  General's  chief  transport 
officer. 

No  better  commander  for  this  gallant  little  army  of  volun- 
teers than  Major-General  F.  D.  Middleton  could  have  been 
obtained.  With  a  record  of  brave  service  in  Australia,  in 
ISTew  Zealand,  and  in  India  during  the  Mutiny — when  he 
was  strongly  recommended  for  a  V.  C,  but  was  debarred  from 


360 


THE   STORY   OF   THE   DOMINION 


AV- 


w 


its  receipt  by  the  technical  fact  of  his  having  been  on  the 
General's  personal  staff — and  of  organizing  work  at  Malta, 
Gibraltar  and  Sandhurst,  he  was  above  the  desire  to  obtain 
victory  by  the  sacrifice  of  his  men,  or  to  make  a  rash  effort 
at  reputation  by  too  great  haste  in  operations.  He  was  a 
bluff,  kindly,  cautious,  and  gallant  officer  who  inspired  his 
troops  with  confidence  and  won  from  most  of  his  officers  a 
measure  of  personal  regard.  He  shared  fully  in  every  hard- 
ship and  privation  of  the  men,  though  at  that  time  so  well 
advanced  in  years  as  to  make  an  arduous  campaign  a  just 
matter  for  care  and  consideration. 


THE   PLAN    OF   CAMPAIGN 

The  march  across  the  great  expanses  of  wintry  plain  and 
frozen  prairie  from  the  railway  to  the  seat  of  trouble  was, 
indeed,  a  painful  one  to  officers  and  men  alike.  Engineered 
roads  there  were  none.  Lord  Melgund  (now  Earl  of  Minto 
and  Governor-General  of  Canada),  who  was  General  Mid- 
dleton's  Chief  of  Staff',  has  described  the  cold  as  at  times 
intense,  the  tent-pegs  as  being  frozen  into  the  ground,  the 
boots  of  those  who  were  riding  as  frozen  to  their  stirrup 
irons,  the  men  as  marching  twenty  miles  a  day  through  per- 
petual high  winds,  cold  rains,  and  occasional  blizzards. 

The  campaign  &eems  to  have  been  skilfully  planned.  The 
General  had  to  cover  and  protect  a  vast  extent  of  country 
with  a  few  troops.  He  had  to  arrange  his  men  so  as  to  over- 
awe large  reserves  of  Indians  scattered  through  the  Terri- 
tories and  thus  prevent  a  general  rising,  while  at  the  same 
time  relieving  Battleford,  which  was  threatened,  and  attack- 
ing Kiel  and  his  clever  lieutenant,  Gabriel  Dumont,  in  their 
headquarters  at  Batoche.  Distances  were  tremendous  and  dif- 
ficulties of  transport  and  supply  equally  great.  He  divided 
his  force  into  three  Columns,  with  the  Canadian  Pacific  Rail- 
way at,  or  near,  Qu'Appelle,  Swift  Current  and  Calgary  as 
the  general  base.  The  Column  from.  Qu'Appelle  to  Batoche 
was  commanded  by  the  General  in  person  and  was  made  up 
of  "A"  Battery,  Quebec,  the  Winnipeg  90th  Battalion,  the 


THE  NORTH-WEST  AND  THE  REBELLION  OF  1SS5     361 


per- 

The 
)untry 
over- 
Perri- 

same 
attack- 

their 
nd  dif- 
ivided 
3  Rail- 
i;ary  as 
Jatoche 
ade  up 

I,  the 


Winnipeg  Field  Battery,  the  Royal  Grenadiers,  Boulton'a 
and  French's  Scouts,  part  of  the  Midland  Battalion  and  the 
Intelligence  Corps — 1,078  men  altogether. 

The  second  Column,  from  Swift  Current  to  Battleford, 
was  under  the  command  of  Lieutenant-Colonel  W.  D.  Otter, 
and  was  composed  of  the  "B"  Battery  of  Kingston,  the 
Queen's  Own,  part  of  the  Governor-General's  Foot  Guards, 
and  other  corps  which  made  up  a  total  of  543  men.  It  had 
been  originally  intended  that  this  Column  should  join  Gen- 
eral Middleton  at  Clark's  Crossing,  on  the  South  Saskatche- 
wan, and  march  with  him  on  Batoche,  but  it  was  diverted  to 
Battleford  on  account  of  the  alarming  reports  regarding  the 
situation  in  that  vicinitv.  The  third  Column,  which  had  to 
make  a  long  detour  by  way  of  Edmonton,  befor:-  meeting 
the  other  Columns  somewhere  on  the  North  Saskatchewan, 
was  commanded  by  a  veteran  officer  who  had  spent  many 
years  in  Canada  at  military  organization  work  of  various  kinds 
— Major-General  T.  Bland  Strange.  His  command  was  made 
up  chiefly  of  the  65th  Battalion  and  the  Winnipeg  Pro\'is- 
ional  Battalion.  With  some  Scouts  and  Mounted  Police  he 
had  656  men  altogether.  Scattered  along  the  line  of  rail- 
way at  various  defend: ive  or  strategic  points  were  portions  of 
the  regiments  mentioned.  The  Governor-General's  Body 
Guard  was  at  Humboldt,  the  Halifax  men  were  at  Moose 
Jaw  and  Medicine  Hat,  the  York  and  Simcoe  E  ittalion  was 
at  Fort  Qu'Appelle,  and  other  detachments,  as  the  campaign 
progrefised,  were  at  Clark's  Crossing,  Touchwood,  Calgary, 
Fort  M'cLeod,  and  Cypress  Hills.  The  base  for  the  transport 
of  supplies  was  placed  at  Swift  Current,  with  Major-Gen- 
eral J.  Wimburn  Laurie,  an  experienced  officer  and  a  mem- 
ber of  the  Dominion  Parliament,  in  charge. 

Everything  was  done  quickly  and,  indeed,  the  speed  of 
operations  seems  to  have  been  the  most  remarkable  feature 
of  the  campaign  as  it  was,  probably,  the  salvation  of  many 
helpless  settlers  and  the  cause  of  its  short  duration.  Middle- 
ton's  Column  started  on  April  6th — eleven  days  after  the 
first  shot  had  been  fired  at  Duck  Lake,  a  distance  of  1,700 

DOMiNION — 16 


362 


THE   STORY    OF   THE   DOMINION 


miles  from  Montreal — for  a  march  of  211  miles  to  the  banks 
of  the  South  Saskatchewan,  where  Kiel  was  now  playing  his 
little  game  of  sedition  and  death.  Otter's  Column  left  Swift 
Current  on  April  11th,  marched  203  miles  to  Battleford,  at 
tlie  rate  of  thirty  miles  a  day,  and  reached  its  destination 
on  the  25th.  General  Strange  left  Calgary  on  April  20th 
and  reached  Edmonton  on  May  5th,  after  having  marched 
194  miles  in  fifteen  days.  Such  figures  convey  some  idea  of 
the  rapidity  of  movement  which  characterised  this  entire 
campaign. 

The  fate  of  the  Columns  was  somewhat  varied.     That  of 
Major-General  Strange  had  little  trouble  to  encounter  until 
it  reached  Edmonton,  near  which  place  the  Indians  had  risen 
under  a  chief  named  Big  Bear  and  had  destroyed  farms  and 
plundered  food  supplies  in  every  direction.     At  a  more  dis- 
tant point,  called  Frog's  Lake,  they  had  murdered  nine  men 
— including  two  priests — besides  carrying  away  a  number  of 
women  and  children  as  prisoners.     This  occurrence  had  fol- 
lowed the  incident  at  Duck  Lake  and  was  upon  the  lines  of 
a  policy  of  Half-breed  co-operation  with  the  Indians  which 
Kiel  had  hoped  would  be  effectual  elsewhere.    From  Edmon- 
ton General  Strange — greatly  assisted  by  some  cavalry  under 
Major  S.  B.  Steele — moved  down  the  North  Saskatchewan  to 
Fort  Pitt,  a  Hudson's  Bay  Company  fort,  not  far  from  Frog's 
Lake  and  200  miles  east  of  Edmonton.  There  he  found  that 
the  post  had  been  abandoned  by  Inspector  Dickins  and  his 
small  force  of  N.   VV.  M.  P.  after  a  prolonged  resistance  to 
Big  Bear.     The  Inspector  and  most  of  his  men  succeeded 
in  escaping  to  Battleford,  after  suffering  severe  hardships. 
On  May  24th  the  General  marched  out  to  meet  the  Indian 
chief  and  found  him  at  a  place  called  Frenchman's  Butte, 
which  he  also  found  it  impossible  to  take.     A  great  morass 
was  behind  the  position  occupied  by  Big  Bear  and  a  frontal 
attack  was,  in  the  General's  opinion,  out  of  the  question. 
He  therefore  retired  to  Fort  Pitt,  where  he  awaited  the 
early  arrival  of  General  Middieton,  after  his  expected  junc- 
ture at  Battleford  with  Colone'i  Otter. 


(«!ll1l'!IIFtJ|1 


m 


THE  NORTH-WEST  AND  THE  REBELLION  OF  jyS5     863 


Ihat 
his 
'  to 
ided 
[ips. 
iiaii 
itte, 
Irass 
ntal 
lion, 
the 
Linc- 


CUT-KNIFE  HILL  MiV>  FIHU  OEEEK 

Meanwhile,  the  Battleford  Cohimn  lja(J  also  met  what 
seema  to  have  been  a  partial  reverse.  Colonel  Otter  arrived 
at  Battleford  v;ithout  serious  incident  and  found  the  place 
menaced  by  a  large  band  of  Indians  under  one  of  the  most 
astute  of  North- West  chiefs — a  man  named  Poundmaker. 
Various  ao*  of  depredation  had  been  committed,  some  set- 
tlers killed  and  a  certain  amount  of  plundering  done.  But 
the  situation  does  not  appear  to  have  been  as  serious  as  had 
been  represented  to  General  Middleton,  nor  is  it  likely  that 
the  astute  Cree  would  have  done  anything  which  could  not 
have  been  disavowed  until  he  saw  which  way  the  campaign 
was  likely  to  go.  Upon  Colonel  Otter's  arrival,  however,  the 
latter  found  the  inhabitants  of  Battleford  in  a  state  of  great 
alarm  and  Poundmaker  with  some  200  followers  encamped 
about  thirty-eight  miles  away.  The  Indian  chief  was  said 
to  be  wavering  betv^^een  peace  and  war,  with  a  sort  of  half- 
formed  intention  to  effect  a  junction  of  his  force  and  that  of 
Big  Bear.  To  prevent  this  a  reconaissance  of  the  Canadian 
troops  was  made  in  force  and,  at  a  place  called  Cut-Knife 
Hill,  Otter  came  up  with  Poundmaker's  braves.  'A  general 
conflict  followed  which  ended  in  the  disablement  of  the 
Canadian  guns,  the  loss  of  eight  men  killed  and  fourteen 
wounded,  and  a  withdrawal  to  Battleford.  There  Colonel 
Otter  awaited  the  hoped-for  coming  of  General  Middleton. 

Everything  now  turned  upon  the  first  Column  and  its 
success  with  the  forces  under  Kiel  and  Dumont.  On  April 
23d,  the  General  had  left  Clark's  Crossing  and  marched  his 
force  in  two  divisions — one  on  each  side  of  the  South  Sas- 
katchewan— toward  Batoche.  During  the  day  it  traversed 
eighteen  miles  of  country,  and  on  the  next  morning  General 
Middleton's  own  part  of  the  force  came  in  contact  with  the 
enemy  a  few  miles  from  the  river  in  a  thickly  wooded  ravine 
called  Fish  Creek.  The  rebels  were  well  placed  in  deep  and 
carefully  protected  rifle- pits,  and,  although  the  troops  from  the 
other  side  of  the  river  were  brought  across,  and  the  whole  force 


864 


THE   STORY   OF   THE    DOMINION 


was  engaged  during  the  greater  part  of  the  day,  it  was  found 
impossible  to  dislodge  Dumont  and  his  men  without  an  actual 
frontal  charge.  This,  Captain  James  Mason  —  afterward 
Lieutenant-Colonel  in  command  of  the  Royal  Grenadiers — 
offered  to  lead  and  begged  earnestly  for  permission  to  do  go. 
But  the  General  showed  his  humane  disposition  by  refusing 
to  risk  the  lives  of  any  more  of  his  citizen  soldiers.  Enough, 
he  declared,  had  been  lost  already.  The  killed,  and  those 
who  died  of  wounds  received  during  the  fight,  numbered  ten, 
and  the  wounded  men  over  forty.  General  Middleton  had 
himself  received  a  bullet  through  his  cap,  and  many  of  the 
officers  had  had  their  horses  shot  under  them. 

The  night  which  followed  was  a  sufficiently  gloomy  one  to 
volunteers  unaccustomed  to  endure  repulse  with  equanimity; 
and  with  the  sounds  of  shot  and  shell  and  the  shouts  of  com- 
batants still  ringing  in  their  ears.  The  rebels,  however,  had 
lost  some  thirteen  killed  and  eighteen  wounded,  and  this  ap- 
pears to  have  been  enough  for  them  as  they  decamped  to  Ba- 
toche  during  the  night.  General  Middleton  now  decided  to 
stay  for  some  time  at  Fish  Creek,  in  order  to  complete  his 
hospital  arrangements,  await  expected  supplies,  and  receive 
some  more  men  who  were  on  the  way  under  Colonel  Wil- 
liams. These  came  by  the  steamer  Northcote,  on  May  5th, 
and  with  them  was  Lieutenant-Colonel  Bowen  Van  Strauben- 
zie,  who  had  served  in  the  British  army  in  India,  China,  and 
the  Crimea,  and  had  been  for  years  connected  with  the  Cana- 
dian militia.  The  infantry  was  at  once  formed  into  a 
brigade,  with  Van  Straubenzie  as  commander,  and,  two  days 
later,  the  advance  upon  Batoche  was  resumed. 


THE  BATTLE   OF  BATOCHE 

This  place  had  been  the  headquarters  of  Kiel  and  his  band 
of  rebels  from  the  beginning.  Under  the  direction  of  Du- 
mont, who  possessed  some  natural  instinct  for  military  opera- 
tions, it  had  been  steadily  strengthened  by  intrenchments  and 
rifle-pits,  and  it  was  now  known  that  the  resistance  would  be 
desperate.      On  May  9th  this  fact  was  experienced.      The 


it 


THE  NORTH-WEST  AND  THE  REBELLION  OF  1885     305 


place  was  shelled  and  partially  surrounded,  but  at  the  end 
of  a  day's  fighting  no  real  progress  had  been  made.  The 
General  sent  off  orders  to  close  up  the  lines  of  communication 
in  case  help  should  be  required ;  despatched  Lord  Melgund 
to.  Ottawa  with  important  messages,  and  an  undertaking 
that  should  matters  grow  more  serious  he  could  return  from 
Winnipeg;  and  camped  during  the  night  under  the  continued 
fire  of  the  enemy.  The  succeeding  day  passed  in  an  exchange 
of  shots,  and  was  marked  by  a  slight  forward  movement  on 
the  part  of  the  rebels.  On  the  third  day  a  reconnaissance 
was  made  with  the  view  of  exactly  locating  the  enemy  and 
preparing  for  the  final  attack.  On  the  12th  a  forward  move- 
ment was  initiated,  and  developed  into  a  charge  which  burst 
through  the  rifle-pits,  carried  the  enemy's  quarters,  streamed 
in  triumph  through  the  streets  of  the  village,  and  killed  47 
and  wounded  163  of  the  rebels.  Riel  surrendered  three  days 
later,  and  was  at  once  sent  to  Regina  and  placed  in  the  hands 
of  the  civil  authorities. 

The  battle  proved  an  interesting  revelation  of  the  dash  and 
spirit  of  Canadian  volunteers,  just  as  the  preceding  three  dr  js 
showed  how  they  chafed  under  the  delay  caused  by  Genr-ral 
Middleton's  frequently  expressed  desire  to  avert  the  loss  of 
life  among  his  troops  as  far  as  possible.  Five  were  killed, 
however,  including  four  officers,  and  twenty-five  wounded, 
including  two  officers,  during  this  last  day's  fighting.  The 
honors  of  the  day  are  generally  accorded  to  Colonel  Williams, 
of  Port  HojK3.  Brave  to  the  point  of  rashness  and  impulsive 
to  the  point  of  imprudence,  he  had  led  in  the  final  charge  and 
won  a  lasting  reputation  for  the  ensuing  success.  A  couple 
of  months  later  he  died  as  a  result  of  fever  and  brain  inflam- 
mation preying  upon  a  system  already  weakened  by  hardship 
and  upon  a  nature  sensitive  in  the  extreme  to  criticism  and 
to  the  necessary  discipline  of  camps.  A  monument  at  Port 
Hope  exprfssses  popular  appreciation  of  the  "Hero  of  Ba- 
toche"  while  public  memory  has  crowned  him  with  a  laurel 
of  reputation. 

Unfortunately,  however,  the  event  has  been  the  cause  of 


866 


THE   STORY   OF   THE   DOMINION 


considerable  controversy,  and  a  word  must  be  said  here  re- 
garding the  mutter.  The  responsibility  for  ordering  the 
charge  is  largely  the  point  in  question,  though  it  would  seem 
as  if  that  were  hardly  a  matter  affecting  the  credit  of  Colonel 
Williams.  If  he  obeyed  orders  in  advancing  and  forged 
ahead  of  the  others,  the  result  is  greatly  to  his  honor.  If 
without  orders,  or  in  anticipation  of  them,  he  led  his  men 
in  a  mad  rush  upon  the  intrenchments  of  the  rebels,  then  he 
assumed  a  responsibility  which  subordinate  officers  do  not 
usually  care  to  take,  or,  in  the  regular  service,  dare  to  take. 
The  consequences  of  the  charge  might  have  been  different, 
and  in  that  case  the  position  of  an  officer  so  acting  would  have 
been  very  unpleasant,  no  matter  how  great  his  bravery  might 
have  been.  Lieutenant-Colonel  George  T.  Denison,  one  of 
the  best  known  of  Canada's  militia  officers,  and  a  man  whose 
opinion  carries  weight,  takes  the  somewhat  extraordinary 
ground  in  a  volume  which  has  attracted  much  public  interest 
in  the  last  year  of  the  century,*  that  "attempts  have  been 
made  to  detract  from  the  credit  due  to  Williams,  by  trying 
to  spread  the  view  that  he  acted  under  the  orders  of  General 
Middleton  and  Colonel  Van  Straubenzie  in  bringing  on  the 
general  action."  He  goes  on  to  say  that  as  a  result  of  the 
charge  the  campaign,  as  well  as  the  battle,  was  won. 

It  is  a  new  contention  for  obedience  to  orders  upon  the 
field  of  battle  to  be  stamped  as  discreditable.  Aside  from 
that,  however,  it  is  difficult  to  see  how  Colonel  Williams's 
reputation  can  be  injuriously  affected  by  any  statement  of 
the  fact  that  in  leading  the  charge  he  did  it  under  command 
of  his  superiors.  If  he  was  rash  and  impulsive  enough  to 
have  led  it  without  orders,  as  Colonel  Denison  believes  from 
the  evidence  before  him,  then  his  reputation  must  rest  upon 
the  fact  of  success  followed  by  death  having  made  it  impos- 
sible to  criticise  an  action  which,  let  it  be  repeated,  might 
have  had  serious  consequences  of  a  very  dif^'erent  sort.  The 
official  statements  concerning  the  matter  are  sufficiently  ex- 

•  "Soldiering'  m  Canada."    By  Lieutenant-Colonel  George  T.  Denison. 
George  N.  Morang  &  Company,  Limited.    Toronto. 


THE  NORTH-WEST  AND  THE  REBELLION  OF  1885     367 


ex- 


plicit.    Qonernl  Middleton,  iu  his  Report  of  May  31,  1885, 
states  tliat: 

"Two  companies  of  the  Midland,  sixty  men  In  all,  under  command  of 
Lieutenant-Colonel  WillianiH,  wore  extended  on  the  left  and  moved  up  to 
the  cemetery,  and  the  Grenadiers,  200  strong,  under  Lieuttmant-Cohmcl 
Grasett,  .  .  .  prolonged  the  line  to  the  right,  the  DOth  being  in  Hup- 
port.  The  Midland  and  (Jrenadiers,  led  by  Lieutenant-Colonels  Williams 
and  Grasett,  the  whole  led  by  Lieutenant-Colonel  Van  Straubenzie,  in 
command  of  the  Brigade,  then  dashed  forward  with  a  cheer  and  drove 
tlie  enemy  out  of  the  pits  in  front  of  the  cemetery  and  the  ravine  to  the 
right  of  it." 

Tiio  General  then  gives  further  incidents  of  the  action, 
and  finally  adds  that  Lieutenant  -  Colonels  Williams  and 
Grasett  "came  prominently  to  my  notice  from  the  gallant 
way  in  which  they  led  and  cheered  their  men  to  the  left, 
rush  by  rush,  until  they  gained  the  houses  on  the  plain — 
the  former  having  commenced  the  rush."  There  apj^ears  to 
have  been  no  desire  on  the  part  of  the  General  to  detract 
from  any  laurels  which  may  have  been  won  by  Williams  on 
this  occasion,  and  he  distinctly  gives  him  first  place  in  the 
Report  quoted.  In  a  further  despatch,  dated  December  30th, 
he  refers  to  his  death  in  most  sympathetic  terms,  and  speaks 
of  it  as  having  deprived  Canada  of  one  of  her  best  men  and 
himself  of  a  warm  and  sincere  friend.  Colonel  Van  Strauben- 
zie, under  his  own  signature,*  has  stated  that  "^on  the  occa- 
sion of  that  charge  on  the  rifle-pits  of  Batoche,  on  the  12th 
of  May  last,  I  ordered  the  late  lamented  Colonel  Williams, 
in  most  emphatic  and  unqualified  language,  to  advance  to  the 
charge,  at  the  same  time  advancing  myself  in  charge  of  the 
attacking  party."  Lieutenant-Colonel  C.  A.  Boulton,  who 
was  an  eye-witness  of  the  fight,  in  his  volume  of  "Reminis- 
cences of  the  Rebellion,"  also  speaks  of  Colonel  Van  Strauben- 
zie's  orders  to  advance,  and  of  himself  seeing  the  rapid  rush 
of  the  Midlanders  on  the  left  and  the  Grenadiers  in  the  centre, 
mixed  with  the  90tli. 

CONCLUSION  OF  THE  CAMPAIGN 

It  would  seem,  therefore,  reasonably  clear  that  Colonel 
Williams  led  in  the  final  charge  and  was  closely  supported 

*  "Toronto  MaiL"    Letter  published  editorially  on  Ji  ly  24,  1885. 


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86S 


THE   STORY    OF   THE   DOMINION 


by  Colonel  Grasett ;  that  both  officers  were  obeying  the  orders 
of  Colonel  Van  Straubenzie;  that  the  latter,  as  Brigade 
Commander,  was  following  the  plan  of  operations  already 
mapped  out  by  General  Middleton.  The  action  itself  was 
only  the  gallant  ending  of  a  carefully  arranged  movement 
leading  up  to  this  result — and  it  seems  as  difficult,  therefore, 
to  understand  how  Colonel  Williams,  with  his  sixty  or  sev-  f 
enty  men,  could  have  won  the  campaign  in  obeying  the  order 
to  charge  at  Batoche,  as  it  does  to  see  how  the  statement  of  the 
fact  that  he  was  so  ordered  can  detract  from  his  final  reputa- 
tion. 

The  rest  of  the  campaign  may  be  rapidly  reviewed.  On 
May  24th,  General  Middleton  arrived  at  Battleford;  two 
days  later  Poundmaker  and  his  chiefs  surrendered;  on  the 
30th  the  General,  with  Gutlings,  infantry,  and  cavalry,  left 
by  steamer  to  help  Strange  at  Fort  Pitt;  within  a  few  days 
separate  forces  under  Strange  and  Otter,  with  Mounted  Po- 
lice from  Prince  Albert  and  a  body  of  men  under  the  General 
himself,  were  converging  from  different  points  upon  the  trail 
of  Big  Bear.  After  a  stern  chase  over  extremely  difficult 
country,  however,  the  pursuit  was  ultimately  abandoned,  and 
it  was  not  until  July  2d  that  the  Indian  leader  came  in  and 
voluntarily  surrendered.  The  rising  was  now  at  an  end. 
The  wearied  and  war-worn  volunteers  returned  to  their  homes, 
and,  at  Toronto,  Montreal,  Halifax,  and  other  points,  received 
ovations  which  are  worthy  of  more  than  a  mere  scarty  refer- 
ence here,  and  which  stamped  a  spirit  of  growing  Canadian 
patriotism  deep  down  into  many  a  hitherto  doubting  heart. 

Kiel,  after  a  prolonged  trial — held  during  a  keen  racial 
and  sectarian  controversy  aroused  through  his  being  partly 
French  by  extraction  and  presumably  Catholic  in  religion — 
was  hanged  at  Kegina  on  the  16th  of  November.  The  maj- 
esty of  the  law  and  the  common-sense  of  national  order  were 
thus  sternly  vindicated,  as  they  should  have  been  fifteen  years  ^■ 
before.  Eight  Indiana  were  hanged  for  murder  and  a  num- 
ber imprisoned  for  different  terms.  Among  the  latter  was 
Poundmaker,  who  was  given  three  years  in  the  penitentiary, 


THE  NORTH-WEST  AND  THE  REBELLION  OF  1885     369 


ary, 


and  died  before  his  term  expired.  A  medal  and  clasp  was 
issued  by  the  Imperial  authorities  to  all  who  participated  in 
the  suppression  of  the  insurrection;  the  Hon.  Adolphe  P. 
Caron,  who  had  proven  himself  an  energetic  and  effective 
Minister  of  Militia,  was  made  a  K.C.I', C!. ;  General  Middle- 
ton,  amid  wide  approval,  was  given  the  sul  onor,  together 
with  the  thanks  of  the  Canadian  Parliament  and  a  vote  of 
$20,000. 

An  unfortunate  aftermath  occurred  to  the  latter  in  the  dis- 
covery of  certain  alleged  irregularities  in  connection  with  a 
seizure  of  furs  belonging  to  the  rebels.  The  confiscation 
seems  to  have  been  permitted  by  the  General  without  much 
thought  and  with  the  knowledge  and  concurrence  of  Mr. 
Hayter  Reed,  a  Government  official  who  accompanied  him  in 
an  advisory  capacity  in  connection  with  Indian  and  Half- 
breed  civil  affairs.  Some  of  these  furs  were  divided  up 
among  the  General's  Staff,  with  his  permission,  and  a  few 
were  allotted  to  him.  "As  to  my  own  share,"  he  said  in  his 
pathetic  Address  to  the  people  of  Canada,  issued  on  August 
21,  1890,  "I  never  received  it,  asked  for  it,  or  thought  about 
it  afterward."  Yet,  when  the  question  of  these  furs  was 
brought  up  by  some  irresponsible  person,  it  was  promptly 
seized  upon  by  politicians  as  a  means  of  damaging  the  Gov- 
ernment, and  the  latter  very  ungenerously  and  weakly  tried 
to  escape  criticism  as  to  their  management  of  civil  matters  in 
the  North-West  during  the  Rebellion  by  throwing  the  re- 
sponsibility upon  the  General.  -- 

Then  came  a  sort  of  hue  and  cry  which  is  sometimes  char- 
acteristic of  democracies,  and  in  this  case  was  intensely  dis- 
creditable, against  the  General.  At  an  earlier  date  the 
Government  had  refused  to  make  good  General  Middleton's 
recommendations  for  honors  and  promotions  because  there 
were  no  French  Canadians  included  in  the  list,  and  the  Mem- 
bers of  Parliament  and  press  of  that  Province  had  keenly 
resented  the  omission.  They  now  joined  readily  enough  in 
attacking  the  General,  while  the  Opposition,  too,  thought  they 
saw  some  political  capital  in  the  incident.     Many  of  them  did 


370 


THE  STORY  OF  THE  DOMINION 


not  like  an  Imperial  Commander  of  the  Militia,  and  consid- 
ered this  as  one  more  opportunity  to  throw  discredit  upon 
the  system.  The  General  was,  therefore,  thrown  to  the  wolves 
of  partisanship,  and  the  Report  of  a  Select  Committee  of  the 
House  was  distinctly  against  him.  His  resignation  had  to 
follow,  and  an  honest  English  gentleman  and  gallant  officer, 
who  would  rather  have  cut  his  hand  off  than  commit  a  dis- 
honorable actiouj  was  compelled  to  leave  the  country  under 
suspicion  by  not  a  few  of  having  actually  stolen  furs !  The 
whoJe  episode  was  discreditable  to  Canada  and  to  Canadians, 
and  the  Imperial  Government  never  did  a  more  just  action 
than  in  receiving  Sir  !Fred.  Middleton  with  favor  and  making 
him  Keeper  of  the  Crown  Jewels  in  the  Tower  of  London. 

The  Rebellion  by  this  time  had  been  long  passed,  its  issues 
more  or  less  forgotten,  its  causes  obliterated  or  healed,  its 
subsequent  political  complications  in  French  Canada  soothed 
and  modified.  But  the  fact  of  Canadian  troops  having  car- 
ried themselves  so  well;  the  memories  of  the  killed  and 
wounded  at  Cut-Knife  and  Fish  Creek  and  Batoche ;  the  feel- 
ing of  unity  which  grew  as  a  result  of  Canadians  from  so 
many  Provinces  standing  shoulder  to  shoulder  in  a  struggle 
on  Canadian  soil;  the  remembrance  of  the  spontaneous  en- 
thusiasm which  everywhere  greeted  the  returning  troops,  had 
combined  to  develop  the  slowly  growing  national  sentiment 
of  the  people  as  neither  Confederation  nor  the  great  practical 
measures  of  progress  during  ensuing  years  had  been  able  to 
do.  Out  of  evil  had  come  good;  out  of  rebellior  had  come 
greater  unity ;  out  of  war  had  come  a  wider  patriotism. 


CHAPTER  XXIV 

QUEBEC  AND   THE  JE8UIT8  ESTATES  QUESTION 

HERE  is  much  in  the  political  history  of  modem 
Quebec  that  is  incomprehensible  to  the  average  Cana- 
dian outside  of  that  Province  and  much  in  its  pecu- 
liar combination  of  Church  and  State  and  racial  interests 
that  is  of  importance  to  every  citizen  of  the  Dominion  as 


QUEBEC  AND  THE  JESUITS  ESTATES  QUESTION     371 

well  as  essential  to  a  knowledge  of  the  myriad  threads  going 
into  the  composition  of  our  Canadian  story.  All  these  and 
other  phases  of  Provincial  feeling  found  a  place  round  the 
aggressive,  genial,  eloquent,  and  yet  corrupt  figure  of  M. 
Honore  Mercier. 


QUEBEC   CONSERVATIVE  AND  POLITIC 

From  Confederation  up  to  his  time  Quebec  had  been 
mainly  Conservative  in  its  political  complexion — loyal  to  Sir 
John  Macdonald  in  Dominion  policy,  loyal  to  Conservative 
leaders  in  local  matters,  loyal  to  the  Church  of  the  French 
people  in  its  then  unquestioned  sympathy  with  Canadian 
Toryism.  The  Conservative  Ministries  of  P.  J .  0.  Chauvoau, 
George  Ouimet,  and  C.  E.  B.  de  Boucherville  succeeded  one 
another  between  t8G7  and  1878.  Then,  after  a  brief  year 
of  Liberalism  under  the  Hon.  H.  G.  Joly  de  Lotbiniere, 
the  old  party  reassumed  office  under  the  late  Sir  J.  A.  Cha- 
pleau  and  J.  A.  Mousseau,  J.  J.  Ross  and  L.  O.  Taillon,  as 
successive  Premiers  up  to  1887. 

A  ucatr.Hl  figure  of  Conservatism  in  Quebec  during  these 
years  was  Sir  Adolphe  Chapleau.  Brilliant  in  speech,  clever 
in  political  management  and  perhaps  not  too  exacting  in 
political  morals,  he  was  f  o^  long  one  of  the  great  leaders  of 
his  race  and  party  in  both  Provincial  halls  and  Dominion 
Parliament.  Opposed  to  him  there  was  no  really  command- 
ing figure  until  the  appearance  on  the  scene  of  Honore  Mer- 
cier and  Wilfrid  Laurier.  Resembling  each  other  in  vivacity 
and  eloquence  and  in  the  graceful  charm  of  French  manners, 
no  two  men  could  be  more  unlike  in  character,  in  the  faculty 
of  personal  growth,  and  in  the  test  of  ultimate  success,  than 
were  these  two  leaders  of  French  Liberalism.  They  were 
drawn  into  the  crucible  of  conflict  upon  the  Riel  question, 
and  the  former  came  out  successful  in  Provincial  matters, 
while  the  latter  was  defeated  in  his  Dominion  campaign  as 
a  leader  of  the  Liberal  party.  Yet  victory  in  the  former 
case  meant  ultimate  downfall ;  in  the  latter  case  defeat  spelt 
triumph  of  the  highest  kind  which  a  political  leader  can  win. 


il! 


Ill 


372 


^^ 


THE   STORY    OF   THE   DOMINION 


The  result  perliaps  turned  more  upon  the  personality  of  the 
men  than  upon  differences  in  their  actual  policy. 

RISING  SPIEIT  OF  SECTABIANISM  AND  SECTIONALISM 

Mercier,  in  1885,  Lad  flashed  like  a  meteor  across  the 
political  horizon.  The  moment  was  opportune.  Louis  Kiel 
had  been  executed  at  Eegina  for  his  leadership  of  the  Rebel- 
lion, despite  the  more  or  le^s  fiery  protests  from  French 
Canada — made  under  the  zealously  propagated  belief  that  he 
was  being  piinished  at  the  instigation  of  the  Orangemen  of 
Ontario  for  the  crime  of  being  a  Roman  Catholic  and  a 
French  Half-breed !  Great  meetings  had  been  held  in  Mont- 
real addressed  by  Mercier  and  Laurier,  and  the  rising  spirit 
of  sectarianism  and  sectionalism  was  being  fanned  into  a 
flame.  The  French  members  of  the  Dominion  Government 
— Chapleau,  Sir  Hector  Langevin,  and  Sir  Adolphe  Carci — 
were  urged  to  resign,  end  the  first-named  was  formally  offered 
the  leadership  of  what  was  to  be  called  "Le  Parti  ISTationale." 
He  refused  in  ringing  terms,  Mercier  accepted  with  equal 
eloquence,  and  the  battle  was  on  between  parties  and  leaders 
alike. 

An  important  change  in  the  situation,  as  compared  with 
past  political  conflicts,  was  very  apparent.  Hitherto  the 
Roman  Catholic  Charch  had  been  in  antagonism  to,  or  an- 
tagonized by,  the  principles  of  Liberalism  in  the  Province. 
Now,  a  great  split  in  the  Conservative  party  seemed  inevi- 
table from  the  fact  of  Mercier  taking  high  ground  for  the 
Church  and  winning  into  the  ranks  of  his  new  "N^ational 
Party"  the  TJltramontanes,  or  extreme  ecclesiastical  element. 
Meanwhile,  Riel  had  suffered  for  his  crimes  upon  the  scaf- 
fold at  Regina.  During  1886  the  Provincial  elections  took 
place  and  Mr.  Mercier  flung  himself  into  the  fray  with  fiery 
eloquence  and  force.  He  battered  at  the  hitherto  invulner- 
able walls  of  local  Conservatism  with  all  the  power  of  a 
position  which  included  appeals  to  racial  prejudice  and  relig- 
ious bigotry,  and,  in  the  end,  won  the  day.  Mr.  Taillon  did 
not  immediately  resign,  but,  on  the  meeting  of  the  Assem- 


QUEBEC  AND  THE  JESUITS  ESTATES  QUESTION     873 

bly,  was  defeated  and  Mercier  became  Prime  Minister  on 
January  27,  1887.  It  was  a  striking  victory  for  a  man  who 
had  never  held  office  except  for  a  few  months  in  the  Joly 
Ministry  of  1879  and  who  had  faced  the  eloquent  Chapleau 
and  all  the  organized  power  of  Quebec  Conservatism.  The 
meteor  now  for  a  time  stayed  its  course  and  the  public  won- 
dered what  would  follow  a  conflict  which  had  resulted  in  the 
overthrow  of  old  parties,  the  breaking  of  old  political  and 
ecclesiastical  ties,  the  raising  of  the  evil  spirits  of  race  an- 
tagonism and  religious  prejudice. 

Meanwhile,  the  Riel  question  had  precipitated  a  very  im- 
portant crisis  in  Dominion  affairs.  As  the  tide  of  Mercier- 
ism  in  Quebec  rose  higher  and  higher  it  looked  as  if  the 
Conservative  party  was  to  be  submerged  in  Dominion  as  well 
as  Provincial  matters.  Even  the  magnetic  personality  of 
Sir  John  Macdonald  appeared  to  have  lost  its  influence  in 
this  wild  war  of  words  over  the  death  of  a  weak  and  worth- 
less rebel.  ITe  was  freely  denounced  by  French-Canadian 
speakers  as  "the  enemy  of  our  nationality"  and  was  burned 
in  effigy  at  Montreal,  while  Chapleau,  Langevin,  and  Caron 
were  bracketed  together  in  public  resolutions  as  "traitors  to 
their  country."  Riel  had  come  to  be  regarded  as  the  hero 
of  Quebec  and  one  of  the  political  martyrs  of  his  race;  Mr. 
Mercier  was  the  leader  of  a  movement  which,  in  the  sacred 
names  of  rin^c  and  religion,  would  eventually  avenge  his 
wicked  execution;  the  Parti-Nationale  was  to  sweep  out  of 
existence  the  enemies  cf  French  Canada  and  of  the  Roman 
Catholic  Church,  and  Mr.  Laurier  was  to  lead  in  the  Domin- 
ion part  of  the  project;  the  Province  of  Ontario  was  to  be 
stirred  up  by  Mr.  Blake  against  those  who  had  committed 
what  30,000  people  on  the  Champ  de  Mars  in  Montreal  de- 
clared to  be  "an  act  of  inhumanity  and  cruelty  unworthy  of 
a  civilized  nation." 

The  flame  of  sectarian  and  sectional  passion  became  so 
pronounced  that  even  Sir  John  Macdonald,  hopeful  and 
optimistic  as  he  naturally  was,  feared  his  Government  would 
hardly  weather  the  storm.    "Le  Monde,"  a  French  Conserva- 


574 


THE  STORY   OF   THE   DOMINION 


tive  paper,  said  after  the  execution  of  Kiel,  and  in  doing 
so  voiced  the  general  sentiment  of  the  press  in  Quebec,  that : 
"Fanaticism  wants  a  victim;  Kiel  has  been  offered  as  a  hola- 
caust ;  and  Orangeism  has  hanged  him  for  hate  and  to  satisfy 
an  old  thirst  for  revenge."  The  Toronto  "Mail,"  the  old-time 
Conservative  organ,  but  now  verging  upon  direct  opposition 
to  the  Government,  threw  fuel  on  the  rising  flames  by  de- 
claring "that  the  Conquest  will  have  to  be  fought  over  again" 
and  that  the  result  would  do  away  with  the  privileges  of  1763. 
The  "Orange  Sentinel,"  in  reply  to  the  bitter  diatribes  of 
its  Quebec  contemporaries,  declared  before  the  execution  that 
if  the  Government  dared  not  hang  the  rebel  the  day  would 
not  be  far  distant  when  "the  call  to  arms  will  aga^'n  resound 
throughout  the  Dominion." 

THE   DEBATE   IN   THE   COMMONS 

Such  was  the  position  on  March  11,  1886,  when  Mr.  Lan- 
dry presented  in  the  House  of  Commons  a  somev/hat  famous 
Resolution  to  the  following  effect:  "That  this  House  feels 
it  its  duty  to  express  its  deep  regret  that  the  sentence  of 
death  passed  upon  Louis  Riel,  convicted  of  high  treason, 
was  allowed  to  be  carried  into  execution."  This  Conserva- 
tive member  of  Parliament  described  the  Government's  ac- 
tion in  a  strain  of  the  fiercest  invective  and  in  language 
which  was  very  frequently  duplicated  during  the  ensuing 
debate.  This  carrying  out  of  the  laws  of  the  land  against 
a  blood-stained,  calculating,  corrupt,  and  twice-guilty  rebel 
was  to  him  a  provocation  flung  at  the  face  of  a  whole  na- 
tionality, a  breach  of  the  laws  of  justice,  an  evidence  of 
weakness  on  the  part  of  the  Ministry,  the  gratification  of  a 
long-sought  vengeance,  the  wanton  sacrifice  of  a  French- 
Canadian  Catholic  upon  the  altar  of  sectarian  hatred  and 
bigotry.  Many  other  speakers  followed.  Mr.  Clarke  "Wal- 
lace declared  that  out  of  2,000  Orange  lodges  in  the  country 
only  six  had  passed  resolutions  on  the  subject.  Mr.  M.  C. 
Cameron  denounced  the  Government  for  having  "trafficked 
in  the  destiny  of  a  fellow  mortal."     Mr.  Wilfrid  Laurier, 


QUEBEC  AND  THE  JESUITS  ESTATES  QUESTION     875 


in  a  speech  which  was  remarkable  for  the  purity  of  its  dic- 
tion and  the  beauty  of  its  language  and  style,  declared  his 
own  belief  and  that  of  his  Province  to  be  that  the  execution 
of  Kiel  was  "the  sacrifice  of  a  life,  not  to  inexorable  justice, 
but  to  bitter  passion  and  revenge."  Sir  Hector  Langevin 
and  Sir  Adolphe  Caron  strongly  defended  the  Government 
to  which  they  belonged. 

Then  came  the  most  important  event  of  the  debate — the 
speech  of  Mr.  Blake  and  the  first  prominent  appearance  of 
Mr.  J.  S.  D.  Thompson  upon  the  arena  of  Dominion  affairs. 
A  man  of  solid  attainments,  high  character,  and  excellent 
reputation,  the  latter  had  been  a  moderately  successful 
Premier  of  Nova  Scotia,  a  very  successful  Judge  of  its  Su- 
preme Court  and  had  lately  been  appointed  Minister  of 
Justice  at  Ottawa.  Practically,  tho  House  had  not  yet  heard 
from  him.  Mr.  Blake  was  still  the  Liberal  leader.  He  had 
been  defeated  in  the  elections  of  1882  and  had  now  turned 
all  his  remarkable  legal  acumen,  his  ke^n  intellect  and  pa- 
tient perseverance  in  research  to  build  up  a  case  which,  by 
logic  and  force  of  argument,  should  help  to  bring  victory  to 
his  banners  in  1887.  To  the  wavering  fabric  of  prejudice 
and  passion,  the  creation  of  racial  tind  religious  bitterness, 
which  had  been  evolved  in  the  country  and  Parliament,  he 
now  sought  in  a  speech  which  was  admittedly  a  great  one  to 
give  a  basis  of  strength,  a  foundation  of  fact.  It  was  a  re- 
markable effort  in  its  close  reasoning,  its  display  of  constitu- 
tional knowledge,  its  vigorous  invective.  Precedents  and 
authorities  and  references  flowed  from  him  as  though  created 
expressly  for  the  occasion  and  intended  by  fate  to  fit  like 
stones  into  the  fouhdation  of  the  political  building  he  was 
seeking  to  strengthen.  The  House  oxpected  a  great  speech 
and  received  it. 

It  was  different  in  the  case  of  Mr.  Thompson.  Even  the 
most  enthusiastic  Conservative  did  not  expect  this  new  Min- 
ister, about  whom  he  felt  some  natural  curiosity,  to  do  more 
than  present  a  fair  case  for  himself  and  his  cause.  Por  him 
to  overthrow  Mr.  Blake's  elaborate  structure  was  not  thought 


«•- 

> 


■«"^ 


376 


THE  STORY   OF   THE   DOMINION 


I   ^'^ 


possible.  The  Liberals  would  have  laughed  heartily  had  any 
one  claimed  that  this  short,  stout,  fresh-colored,  young-look- 
ing man  from  Nova  Scotia  would  prove  a  match  for  Edward 
Blake.  Success  in  such  a  supposition  meant  the  defeat  of 
the  greatest  logician  and  debater  in  the  House  of  Commons 
and  the  complete  defence  of  the  Government  in  a  matter 
involving  most  intricate  constitutional  issues.  It  would  mean 
that  a  new  man  had  pitted  himself  victoriously  against  a 
veteran  in  Parliamentary  life  and  constitutional  lore.  Yet 
this  was  exactly  what  happened,  on  the  12th  of  March,  in  a 
crowded  House  and  from  a  speech  which  received  the  closest 
and  most  critical  attention.  For  two  hours  the  quiet,  unpre- 
tentious speaker  held  his  audience  so  that  a  pin  might  have 
been  heard  to  fall.  The  new  Minister  was,  in  fact,  master 
of  himself,  master  of  his  subject,  master  of  the  law  in  its 
theory,  practice,  and  precedent,  master  of  the  House.  He 
pierced  the  armor  of  Mr.  Blake's  argument  with  the  most 
direct  and  irresistible  skill,  and,  while  not  appealing  in  the 
least  to  his  hearers'  passions,  prejudices,  or  sympathies,  he 
subdued  a  critical  and  censorious  body  of  men  by  the  pure 
force  of  reasoning  and  logic. 

Three  days  afterward  the  Government  found  themselves 
with  a  majority  of  146  to  42.  The  threatened  secjession  of 
the  French  element  in  the  party  had  been  averted,  and  a  new 
leader  had  appeared  who  was  to  keep  on  growing  in  political 
stature  until  he  became  Prime  Minister  of  Canada  in  1892. 
The  strength  which  his  speech  brought  to  the  Government 
was  sorely  needed,  and  so  was  the  not  inconsiderable  help 
which  the  fact  of  his  being  a  Roman  Catholic  carried  with 
it.  For  the  time,  however,  although  the  Conservative  ma- 
jority in  the  House  was  safe,  Mr.  Mercier  and  Mr.  Laurier 
seemed  to  hold  Quebec  in  the  hollow  of  their  hands.  Paper 
after  paper  went  over  to  the  Liberals,  and  fresh  disaffection 
in  the  Conservative  party  ranks  was  a  matter  of  daily  report. 
The  Provincial  elections,  as  already  described,  had  gone  in 
favor  of  Mercier,  and  the  finger  on  the  wall  of  fate  appeared 
to  indicate  the  coming  defeat  of  the  Dominion  Government. 


QUEBEC  AND  THE  JESUITS  ESTATES  QUESTION     877 


But,  in  January,  1887,  when  the  contest  came  on,  the  elo- 
quence of  Chapleau  was  pitted  successfully  against  that  of 
Laurier;  the  influence  of  Langevin  with  the  Church,  as  a 
whole,  was  found  equal  to  that  of  Mercier  with  the  Ultra- 
montane element;  the  ringing  campaign  oratory  of  the  Hon. 
George  E.  Foster,  who  had  come  into  the  Government  about 
the  same  time  as  Mr.  Thompson,  proved  singularly  effective 
in  the  English  Provinces ;  the  logical  reasoning  of  the  latter 
carried  conviction  to  many  minds;  while  over  all,  and  min- 
gled with  all  the  other  influences,  was  the  magnetic  personal- 
ity of  Sir  John  Macdonald.  The  result  was  a  Conservative 
victory,  with  numbers  even- in  Quebec,  a  sweeping  majority 
in  the  Maritime  Provinces  and  the  North- West,  and  a  fair 
one  in  Ontario.  A  little  later  the  accession  of  Mr.  Wilfrid 
Laurier  to  the  Liberal  leadership,  in  succession  to  Mr.  Blake, 
was  announced — the  first  French-Canadian  party  leader  of 
both  races  since  the  days  when  nominal  power  rested  in  the 
hands  of  Sir  Etienne  Tache  or  Sir  Narcisse  Belleau. 

OBIGIN    OP  THE    JESUITS   ESTATES   QUESTION 

Another  question  was  now  looming  upon  the  political  hori- 
zon which,  in  the  end,  appealed  to  many  of  the  same  passions 
and  prejudices  as  those  surrou'^.ding  the  name  of  Riel.  The 
first  stages  in  the  history  of  the  Jesuits  Estates  issue  did  not 
seem  to  involve  any  serious  results.  On  the  3d  of  July,  1888, 
a  Bill  for  the  settlement  of  a  long-standing  dispute  between 
the  Society  of  Jesus,  the  hierarchy  of  the  Roman  Catholic 
Church  in  Quebec,  and  the  Province  itself,  was  passed  with- 
out opposition  or  contest  through  the  Lower  House  of  the 
Quebec  Legislature.  It  went  through  the  Council,  also,  with- 
out opposition,  and  in  due  course  was  assented  to  by  the 
Lieutenant-Governor  and  became  law — subject,  of  course, 
within  a  certain  period  to  disallowance  by  the  Dominion  au- 
thorities should  the  legislation  be  considered  unconstitutional 
or  dangerous  to  the  interest  of  the  country  as  a  whole.  At 
first  there  was  neither  popular  opposition  nor  serious  criti- 
cism.    With  one  or  two  exceptions,  not  a  paper  in  Quebec 


11 


I 


»78 


THE   STORY   OF   THE  DOMINION 


discussed  the  matter  from  a  hostile  standpoint,  and  the  Prot- 
estant Committee  of  Public  Instruction  quietly  accepted  the 
promise  of  $60,000  for  their  schools,  which  was  included  in 
the  measure. 

It  seemed,  therefore,  as  if  this  was  to  prove  a  satisfactory 
settlement  of  a  prolonged  controversy  and  a  complex  problem. 
In  origin  the  issue  had  been  simple  enough.  During  their 
heroic  missionary  labors  in  early  Canada,  the  Jesuits  had 
acquired  lands  and  wealth  for  their  Order,  while  winning 
laurels  of  martyrdom  and  personal  fame  for  themselves.  In 
1Y91,  after  the  general  suppression  of  the  Order  by  the  Popo, 
the  King  of  Great  Britain  issued  a  proclamation  indorsing 
its  suppression  in  Canada,  but  allowing  the  use  of  estates  and 
incomes  to  the  members  so  long  as  any  of  them  should  be 
alive.  By  1800,  the  last  Jesuit  in  Quebec  had  passed  away, 
and  the  properties  of  the  Order,  it  was  claimed,  were 
escheated  to  the  Crown.  But  in  cases  of  escheat  a  liberal 
proportion  is  frequently  appropriated  to  the  carrying  out  of 
the  intention  of  the  donors,  or  to  indemnifying  those  who 
may  morally  consider  themselves  entitled  to  it.  It  was, 
therefore,  believed  by  many,  and  including  some  of  the  lead- 
ers in  the  Church,  that  the  reinstatement  of  the  Jesuits  by 
the  Vatican  at  a  later  date,  together  with  their  incorporation 
by  the  Province,  gave  them  this  moral  right — such  as  it  was. 
The  hierarchy  of  the  Church  in  Quebec  claimed,  on  the  other 
hand,  that  under  the  terms  of  original  suppression  by  the 
Pope,  the  estates  should  have  passed  to  the  Church  as  a  whole 
and  not  to  the  Crown. 

Hence  a  political  situation  in  a  Catholic  Province  which 
made  it  very  difficult  for  successive  Governors  or  Govern- 
ments to  move  in  the  matter  of  satisfying  either  party  in  the 
Church,  or  of  selling  the  lands  so  as  to  benefit  the  people  at 
large.  At  every  attempt  to  do  so  they  were  met  by  vigorous 
protests  against  the  diversion  of  any  of  the  properties  from 
the  charitable  or  religious  purposes  to  which  they  had  been 
originally  devoted  by  private  donors,  or  by  grants  from  the 
King  of  France.     There  was  only  one  authority,  in  connec- 


m 


QUEBEC  AND  THE  JESUITS  ESTATES  QUESTION     379 

tion  with  tho  subject,  whom  both  elements  of  thought  in  the 
Church  would  recognize  and  whoso  decision  would  bo  ac- 
cepted without  demur.  But  to  the  Pop©  no  Provincial  Gov- 
ernment had  hitherto  cared  to  appeal.  Complications  ^vere 
possible,  and  political  troubles,  greater  than  any  ills  which 
would  follow  the  further  postponement  of  the  matter,  were 
always  in  view.  Mr.  Mercier,  however,  with  all  his  faults, 
did  not  lack  courage.  He  decided  to  settle  the  affair — and 
at  the  same  time  please  the  Ul tramontanes  who  had  8to{)d  by 
him  in  the  elections — by  referring  it  to  Pope  Leo  XIII,  as 
a  sort  of  arbitrator.  His  Holiness  accepted  the  position,  after 
full  explanations  had  been  offered  at  the  Vatican,  and  ap- 
pointed the  Archbishop  of  Quebec  to  act  as  his  attorney  in 
the  subsequent  negotiations.  This  latter  arrangement,  how- 
e\'er,  was  subsequently  canceled. 

The  Quebec  Premier  succeeded  under  these  conditions  in 
making  an  agreement  by  which  the  Jesuits  were  to  receive 
$400,000  in  quittance  of  claims  aggregating  $2,000,000,  and 
a  much-vexed  question  was  to  be  apparently  disposed  of.  In 
the  preamble  to  his  measure,  however,  he  made  the  mistake 
of  introducing  the  Pope's  name  as  a  sort  of  supreme  arbiter 
between  parties  and  sections  in  the  Province.  Whether  this 
was  done  purposely,  or  ignorantly,  whether  it  was  conceived 
in  a  spirit  of  religious  bigotry,  or  arose  out  of  absolute  for- 
getfulness  that  the  rest  of  the  Dominion  was  largely  different 
in  creed  from  his  own  Province,  matters  little  in  the  result. 
And,  whatever  significance  there  may  have  been  in  such  leg- 
islation, as  carried  out  under  the  approval  and  arrangement 
of  the  authorities  at  Rome,  it  certainly  passed  unnoticed  for 
the  moment  by  the  people  of  Quebec  as  a  whole.  The  result 
was  very  different  elsewhere.  If  Quebec  had  been  in  a  flame 
of  fury  over  the  Kiel  matter,  Ontario  was  now  roused,  slowly 
but  eurely,  to  a  white-heat  of  indignation  over  this  introduc- 
tion of  the  Pope's  name  and  power  into  Canadian  legislation. 
Of  course,  in  each  case,  it  was  only  a  portion  of  the  people  who 
were  so  gieatly  stirred  up,  but  it  was  not  the  less  a  vociferous 
elwnent,  and  one  which  found  plentiful  means  of  expression. 


»80 


THE   BTOBY  OF   THE  DOMINION 


II 


hi"?' 


A  KLiiN  SECTARIAN   CONTEOVERSY 

Aggressive  Protestantism  in  Ontario  became  fiercely  angry. 
Orange  lodges  poured  out  denunciatory  resolutions,  and  the 
Toronto  "Mail"  renewed  its  able  but  unwise  attacks  upon  Que- 
bec and  its  religious  institutions.  The  Jesuits,  as  an  Order 
and  as  individuals,  were  painted  in  the  blackest  shades  which 
tongue  or  pen  could  produce,  and  all  the  pages  of  history 
were  ransacked  for  illustrations  which  cculd  inflame  public 
opinion.  Very  soon  the  Protestant  minority  in  Quebec 
caught  fire  from  the  flames  of  agitation  elsowhere,  and  began 
to  f(3el  that  they  must  have  been  deeply  injured  and  that 
they  should  join  in  the  movement  for  compelling  the  Federal 
Government  to  disallow  the  obnoxious  measure.  On  the  other 
hand,  the  French  press  took  speedy  and  intense  offence  at  the 
remarks  of  some  of  their  critics  in  the  other  Provinces,  and, 
before  long,  as  bitter  a  sectarian  struggle  as  Canada  had  ever 
seen  seemed  on  the  point  of  serious  consummation. 

For  some  time  it  was  unknown  what  the  Dominion  Govern- 
ment would  do.  From  a  political  standpoint  they  appeared 
to  be  on  the  horns  of  a  serious  dilemma.  If  they  disallowed 
the  measure,  Quebec  would  probably  be  lost  to  the  party ;  if 
they  allowed  it  to  become  law,  Ontario  promised  to  cause  an 
equally  serious  loss  of  support.  On  February  13,  1889,  the 
first  mutterings  of  the  inevitable  Parliamentary  storm  were 
heard  as  Mr.  J.  A.  Barron  rose  in  his  place  to  ask  certain 
questions  about  the  Jesuits  Estates  Act  of  the  Quebec  Legis- 
lature. The  Minister  of  Justice  in  clear  and  concise  terms 
replied  that  the  Government  had  considered  the  matter,  and 
that  he  had  himself  reported  the  Act  to  the  Governor-General 
as  one  which  should  (from  a  legal  and  constitutional  stand- 
point) be  left  to  its  operation.  Mr.  Thompson  was  at  once 
made  the  centre  of  a  fierce  campaign.  His  attitude  in  the 
Kiel  question  was  forgotten,  and  it  was  declared  that  relig- 
ious prejudices  had  guided  him  in  the  present  case.  The 
Rev.  Dr.  George  Douglas  of  Montreal,  Dr.  Carman,  head  of 
the  Methodist  Church  in  Canada,  Canon  (afterward  Bishop) 


TTf 'T 


y;  if 

Lise  an 
19,  the 
were 
ertain 
Legis- 
terms 
and 
«neral 
stand- 
once 
in  the 
relig^ 
The 
ead  of 
ishop) 


QUEBEC  AND  THE  JESUITS  ESTATES  QUESTION     Sbl 

Dii  Moulin,  Principal  Caven  of  Knox  College,  and  many 
other  divines^  attacked  him  personally  and  the  Government 
generally  in  terms  of  fiery  invective  and  indignation. 

Meetings  were  held  in  Toronto  and  elsewhere  as  fiercely 
Protestant  in  their  tone  as  the  Montreal  gatherings  of  1885 
had  been  French  and  Catholic  in  character.  Mr.  D'Alton 
McCarthy,  Q.  C,  a  leading  lawyer  and  eminent  pleader,  a 
much  respected  and  able  man,  championed  the  new  prin- 
ciple of  proposed  Equal  Rights,  in  speeches  of  force  and 
considerable  weight.  Finally,  after  much  political  pertur- 
bation, action  was  taken  in  the  House  of  Commons  by  a 
Resolution  presented  on  March  26th  by  Lieutenant-Colonel 
William  E.  O'Brien.  It  was  not  yet  known  what  the  Oppo- 
sition would  do,  nor  was  the  strength  of  the  extreme  Prot- 
estant feeling  in  the  House  quite  understood.  It  was  pretty 
clear,  however,  that  Mr.  McCarthy,  who  was  the  real  leader 
of  the  movement,  could  hardly  get  enough  followers  to  de- 
feat the  Government,  in  coalition  with  the  Liberals,  unless 
the  French  Conservative  members  should  refrain  from  voting 
altogether.  The  motion  was  a  strong  one,  and  very  cleverly 
phrased  in  the  following  words:  .    , ,..     ,  , r,  ..  --i!: 

"That  an  humble  Address  be  presented  to  His  Excellency  the  Gover- 
nor-General setting  forth:  (1.)  That  this  House  regards  the  power  of 
disallowing  the  Acts  of  the  Legislative  Assemblies  of  the  Provinces, 
vested  in  His  Excellency-in-Council,  as  a  prerogative  essential  to  the 
national  existence  of  the  Dominion;  (2.)  That  this  great  power,  while  it 
should  i>ever  be  wantonly  exercised,  should  be  fearlessly  used  for  the 
protection  of  the  rights  of  a  minority,  for  the  preservation  of  the  fun- 
damental principles  of  the  Constitution,  and  for  safeguarding  the 
general  interests  of  the  people;  (3.)  That  in  the  opinion  of  this  House 
the  passage  by  the  Legislature  of  the  Province  of  Quebec  of  the  Act 
entitled  'An  Act  respecting  the  settlement  of  the  Jesuits  Estates'  is  be- 
yond the  power  of  that  Legislature.  First,  because  it  endows  from  pub- 
lic funds  a  religious  organization,  thereby  violating  the  undo"^bted  con- 
stitutional principle  of  the  complete  separation  of  Church  and  State. 
Secondly,  because  it  recognizes  the  usurpation  of  a  right  by  foreign 
authority,  namely,  His  Holiness  the  Pope  of  Rome,  to  claim  that  his 
consent  was  necessary  to  empower  the  Provincial  Legislature  to  dispose 
of  a  portion  of  the  public  domain,  and,  also,  because  the  Act  is  made  to 
depend  upon  the  wiH,  and  the  appropriation  of  the  grant  thereby  made 
as  subject  to  the  control  of  the  same  authority.  And,  thirdly,  because 
the  endowment  of  the  Society  of  Jesus,  an  alien,  secret  and  politico-re- 
ligious body,  the  expulsion  of  which  from  every  Christian  community 


382 


THE  STORY   OF  THE  DOMINION 


■wherein  it  has  had  footing  has  been  rendered  necessary  by  ita  intolerant 
and  mischievous  intermeddling  ^ith  the  functions  of  civil  government, 
is  fraught  with  danger  to  the  civil  and  religious  liberties  of  the  people  of 
Canada.  And  this  House,  therefore,  prays  that  His  Excellency  will  be 
graciously  pleased  to  disallow  the  said  Act." 

This  lengthy  indictment  of  the  Act  and  criticism  of  the 
position  assumed  by  the  Government  is  given  in  full  here 
because  it  sums  up  succinctly  and  clearly  the  case  presented 
in  many  speeches  upon  a  myriad  platforms  during  the  suc- 
ceeding year.  It  was  skilfully  worded,  and  intended  to  ob- 
tain support  from  all  who  believed  in  limiting  Provincial 
powers  of  legislation ;  of  all  who  disliked  or  dreaded  Roman 
Catholicism ;  of  all  who  shared  in  a  popular  Protestant  aver- 
sion to  the  Papal  temporal  power  and  the  extension  of  Jesuit 
influence.  The  debate  which  followed  was  a  most  interesting 
one  from  the  amount  of  historical  research  that  was  in  evi- 
dence, if  for  no  other  reason.  The  Jesuits  were  defended  or 
denounced  in  every  phrase  of  praise  or  execration  which  could 
be  found  in  the  pages  of  the  past.  Colonel  O'Brien,  Mr.  J. 
C.  Rykert,  Mr.  J.  A.  Barron,  and  Mr.  C.  C.  Colby  followed 
each  other  in  speeches  pro  and  con.  Mr.  Colby,  himself  a 
Protestant,  presented  a  most  interesting  picture  of  the  Ro- 
man Catholic  Church  as  a  political  instrument  of  defence 
against  dangerous  elements  existent  in  all  countries  to-day. 
"It  recognizes,"  he  declared,  "the  supremacy  of  authority ;  it 
teaches  observance  to  law ;  it  teaches  respect  for  the  good 
order  and  constituted  authorities  of  society."  He  described 
it,  very  properly,  as  opposed  to  the  spirit  of  infidelity,  the 
spirit  of  anarchy,  and  the  spirit  which  has  no  respect  for  ex- 
isting institutions  of  any  kind. 

Mr.  McCarthy  followed  in  a  clear  and  cutting  arraign- 
ment of  the  Government  and  all  concerned,  in  either  passing 
or  permitting  such  a  measure.  After  him  came  Sir  John 
Thompson  (he  had  been  knighted  in  1888)  in  a  speech  which 
was  as  great  in  matter  and  form  as  his  famous  effort  upon  the 
Kiel  question.  Other  speakers  followed,  notably  Mr.  Lau- 
rier,  Sir  John  Macdonald,  and  Sir  Richard  Cartwright,  and 
then  a  division  took  place  in  which  the  motion  was  lost  by 


it 


QUEBEC  AND  THE  JESUITS  ESTATES  QUESTION     383 

118  to  13.  It  had,  of  course,  been  known  before  this  that 
the  Opposition  was  going  to  vote  with  the  Government,  as  a 
whole  and  in  order  to  vindicate  the  cherished  principle  of 
Provincial  rights  under  which  they  had  fought  various  con- 
tests in  the  Provinces — especially  Ontario  and  Manitoba — 
and  which  now  proved  a  very  pleasant  and  easy  platform  for 
both  parties  to  stand  upon.  This  division  disposed  of  the 
matter  so  far  as  Parliament  was  concerned,  though  it  only 
intensified  discussion  outside.  Just  as  it  had  been  impossi- 
ble for  a  time  to  control  the  storm  in  Quebec  over  the  execu- 
tion of  Kiel,  so  it  was  now  found  impossible  to  check  the 
agitation  in  Ontario  over  the  passage  of  this  Act  and  its  allow- 
ance by  the  Federal  authorities. 

Various  mass  meetings  were  held,  the  little  Parliamentary 
minority  was  designated  the  "N^oble  Thirteen,"  and,  on  June 
12,  1889,  at  a  Convention  held  in  Toronto,  the  Equal  Rights 
Association  was  formed.  This  body  assumed  that  the  Prot- 
estants of  Quebec  required  safe-guarding  and  undertook  to 
do  that,  as  well  as  to  resist  the  apparently  growing  encroach- 
ments of  the  Church  of  Rome.  It  had  a  number  of  influ- 
ential officers,  with  D' Alton  McCarthy  as  its  Parliamentary 
leader,  and  a  strong  support  from  many  very  sincere  and 
honest  people  throughout  the  Province.  Among  a  different 
element  there  a]  so  arose  the  Protestant  Protective  Associa- 
tion or  P.  P.  A.,  as  an  avowed  and  bitter  antagonist  of  Ro- 
man Catholicism  in  private  as  well  as  public  life.  The  Gov- 
ernor-General was  petitioned  by  Mr.  Hugh  Graham,  of  Mont- 
real, to  refer  the  constitutionality  of  the  Act  to  the  Supreme 
Court  of  Canada  for  consideration,  but  this  was  refused  by 
advice  of  the  Minister  of  Justice,  whose  reasons  were  given 
at  length  in  an  able  State  paper  which  was  published  in 
August.  Petitions  were  also  presented  asking  for  disallow- 
ance— the  one  from  Ontario  containing  156,000  signatures 
and  one  from  Quebec  having  9,000  names  signed  to  it. 

On  August  2d  a  deputation  had  waited  upon  the  Governor- 
General  bearing  these  petitions  and  asking  him  to  exercise 
his  personal  prerogative  by  disallowing  the  legislation  in 


I 


884 


THE   STORY  OF   THE  DOMINION 


question.  Lord  Stanley  of  Preston  listened  attentively  to 
the  arguments  of  Principal  Caven  and  others.  His  reply 
amounted  to  the  simple  statement  that  he  could  not  and  would 
not  veto  a  measure  in  the  face  of  his  own  Ministry  and  of  a 
large  Parliamentary  majority  comprising  the  bulk  of  both 
parties  in  the  Dominion. 

FINAL  ADJUSTMENT  OF  THE   QUESTION 

Shortly  after  this  the  Protestant  Committee  of  the  Quebec 
Council  of  Public  Instruction  showed  their  appreciation  of 
the  value  of  money,  or  their  lack  of  appreciation  for  the 
current  agitation,  by  accepting  in  the  name  of  the  Protes- 
tants of  the  Province  the  public  trust  imposed  upon  them 
for  the  distribution  or  use  of  the  $60,000  granted  under  the 
terms  of  the  famous  measure.  Certain  conditions  were  made, 
however,  which  Mr.  Mercier  accepted  without  hesitation,  and, 
on  November  5th,  the  closing  scene  in  an  interesting  political 
drama  occurred  in  the  City  of  Quebec.  There,  in  presence 
of  a  large  gathering  of  representative  men,  the  $400,000  was 
handed  over  in  the  manner  previously  decided  upon.  A  check 
for  $100,000  was  given  to  the  Society  of  Jesus,  $40,000  went 
to  Laval  University,  and  the  rest  was  divided  in  sums  of 
$10,000  and  $20,000  among  certain  interested  Dioceses. 
The  Protestant  educational  authorities  also  received  their 
check. 

Nothing  now  remained  for  the  Equal  Rights  party  but 
political  revenge,  and,  under  McCarthy's  leadership,  they 
sought  it  in  the  House  of  Commons  by  a  motion  against  the 
using  of  an  official  dual  language  in  Manitoba  or  the  North- 
West  Territories  and  by  a  Resolution  advocating  the  pro- 
posed submission  of  the  constitutional  issue  to  the  Supreme 
Court.  In  Ontario,  an  agitation  was  raised  against  the  ex- 
tension of  the  Separate  School  system  under  the  Provincial 
Government  of  Mr.  Mowat,  and  later  on  the  mutterings  of 
the  Manitoba  School  question  began  to  be  heard.  With  the 
rapid  subsidence  of  sectarian  sentiment,  however,  the  move- 
ment gradually  collapsed,  and  the  success  of  the  Conservative 


e  pro- 
Ipreme 
the  ex- 
Ivincial 
mgs  of 
feth  the 
move- 
|rvativ« 


QUEBEC  AND  THE  JESUITS  ESTATES  QUESTION     385 

party  in  the  Dominion  elections  of  1891  and  of  the  Liberal 
party  in  the  Ontario  elections  of  1800  practically  killed  the 
Equal  Rights  Association.  An  important  result  remained  in 
the  continued  alienation  of  Mr.  McCarthy  from  the  Con- 
servative party  in  which  he  had  once  been  so  active  a  leader 
and  prominent  figure. 

To  the  Protestant  sentiment  of  Canada  vengeance  was, 
however,  given  in  a  very  real,  though  very  indirect,  form 
by  the  fall  of  Mr.  Mercier  in  December,  1891.  This  ex- 
traordinary man  had  spent  his  few  years  of  political  triumph 
reveling  in  every  splendor  and  pleasure  that  success  could 
give.  He  had  visited  Rome,  been  received  with  open  arms 
by  the  Papal  authorities,  and  decorated  with  an  Order  of 
Knighthood  and  the  title  of  Count.  He  had  come  back  to 
the  Province  to  participate  in  public  appearances  in  which 
the  popularity  of  his  reception  was  only  equaled  by  the  many- 
colored  magnificence  of  his  new  uniforms.  He  had  lived  in  a 
manner  which  indicated  the  possession  of  present,  or  potential, 
millions.  Then  came  whispers  of  political  corruption;  of  a 
"toll"  taken  by  his  Government  upon  financial  transactions. 
Finally,  the  Baie  des  Chaleurs  Railway  scandal  was  laid  bare, 
proof  was  produced  that  his  Government,  or  himself,  had  re- 
ceived $100,000  for  the  letting  of  the  contract,  and  a  Royal 
Commission  by  majority  report  declared  him  guilty  of  corrup- 
tion on  this  and  other  points.  Lieutenant-Governor  A.  R. 
Angers  promptly  dismissed  him  from  oflS.ce.  De  Boucher- 
ville  became  Premier,  and  in  the  elections  which  followed 
swept  the  Province  once  more  for  the  Conservative  party. 
All  Mercier's  undoubted  eloquence  and  personal  popularity 
failed  to  affect  the  verdict,  to  retain  himself  in  the  actual 
lead  of  his  party,  or  to  rehabilitate  his  personal  reputation. 
A  few  years  later  this  most  brilliant  and,  in  many  ways,  like- 
able man  died  in  poverty  and  practical  retirement. 


DOMINION— 17 


886 


THE  STORY   OF   THE   DOMimON 


CHAPTER  XXV 


TRADE   AND    TARIFFS    AND    UNRESTRICTED    RECIPROCITY 


DURING  the  years  immediately  following  the  adoption 
of  the  National  Policy  by  Parliament  in  1879  there 
could  be  little  doubt  as  to  popular  approval  of  the 
tariff,  while  the  elections  of  1882  and  1887 — though  in  the 
latter  case  other  issues  arose — seemed  to  still  further  stamp 
its  strength  upon  the  public  mind.  Trade  had  expanded  im- 
mensely, then  shrunk  a  little,  then  grcwn  again  until  in  1891 
it  was  $218,000,000.  Railways  had  increased  in  mileage 
from  six  to  thirteen  thousand,  and  in  traffic  from  eight  to 
twenty-one  million  tons.  Business  failures  had  decreased 
by  one-half,  or  over  fourteen  millions  of  dollars,  while  de- 
posits in  the  chartered  and  savings  banks  had  risen  from 
$78,000,000  to  $192,000,000  and  the  revenue  had  increased 
sixteen  millions  in  amount.  The  tariff  averaged,  meanwhile, 
thirty-five  per  cent,  or  about  half  that  of  the  American 
Republic.  There  could  be  no  doubt,  also,  of  the  increase  in 
many  lines  of  industry  and  the  steady  growth  of  factories 
and  accumulation  of  savings  among  the  poorer  classes. 

POSITION  OF  THE  PARTIES 

But  all  was  not  quite  as  it  should  be  and  there  were,  natu- 
rally, shadows  thrown  even  by  the  sunshine  of  success.  To 
the  Opposition,  standing  out  in  the  cold  during  year  after 
year  and  through  election  after  election,  these  shadows  dark- 
ened until  they  covered  the  sun  and  the  skies  and  made  the 
Liberal  party  feel  that  some  very  severe  measures  were  re- 
quired to  cauterize  the  growing  ills  of  the  fiscal,  political, 
and  social  system.  There  were  certainly  some  just  grounds 
for  pessimism  on  the  part  of  the  Opposition  just  as  there 
were  excellent  reasons  for  confidence  and  optimism  in  the 


TARIFFS   AND    UNBESTRICTBD  RECIPROCITY       387 


aatu- 
To 
after 
dark- 
the 
e  re- 
tical, 
^unds 
there 
n  the 


mind  of  the  Government  party.  The  exodus  of  Canadians 
to  the  United  States  had  continued  and  come  in  the  course 
of  years  to  number  hundreds  of  thousands  of  enterprising 
and  energetic  young  men. 

The  population  of  the  country  had  not  Increased  very  rap- 
idly— only  some  500,000  in  the  years  between  1881  and 
1891.  The  public  debt  had  grown  largely  under  the  policy 
of  heavy  expenditure  made  necessary  by  the  building  of  the 
Canadian  Pacific  Railway  and  the  deepening  of  the  canals. 
The  farmers  were  suffering  greatly  from  the  effect  of  the 
McKinley  tariff  legislation  of  1890  and  at  least  one  impor- 
tant agricultural  industry — the  production  of  barley — had 
been  practically  ruined.  The  reciprocity  in  tariffs  which  Sir 
John  Macdonald  had  promised  in  1878  would  compel  reci- 
procity in  trade  had  not  yet  succeeded  in  that  aim  and  the 
farmers  were  said  to  be  pining  for  the  great  American  market 
of  60,000,000.  The  times  were  not  as  good  as  they  had  been 
and  the  shadow  of  the  coming  financial  crisis  of  1893  was. 
perhaps  unconsciously,  being  felt  by  people  in  Canada  as 
well  as  elsewhere.  Corruption  was  alleged  to  be  rampant; 
monopoly  was  said  to  be  triumphant  in  the  persons  of  the 
protected  manufacturers ;  and  the  net  effect  of  the  tariff 
was  declared  to  be  a  robbery  of  the  consumers  and  the 
country. 

To  this  extreme  view  Conservatives  opposed  the  fact  of 
the  distinct  progress  visible  in  Canada  as  a  whole,  the  re- 
dundancy of  revenue,  the  policy  of  railway  expansion,  the 
expenditure  of  $125,000,000  upon  necessary  public  works  in 
a  dozen  years  of  power,  the  increased  industrial  employ  of 
labor,  the  protection  of  the  home  market  for  the  home  pro- 
ducer, the  rise  in  national  credit,  the  enhanced  prestige  of 
Canada  abroad,  the  development  of  Manitoba  and  the  North- 
West.  Meanwhile,  in  the  years  between  1878  and  1891,  the 
Liberal  policy  had  not  been  stationary.  Its  mutations  in  fact 
had  been  many.  During  the  time  of  the  Mackenzie  regime 
the  Premier  and  Sir  Richard  Cartwright  had  maintained  a 
policy  of  tariff  for  revenue  ouly.    During  the  years  which 


II 


m 


THE  STORY   OF   THE   DOMINION 


followed  1878  the  latter  had  stood  by  these  political  guns 
and  had  shotted  them  with  the  hottest  of  invective  against 
all  forms  of  protection  and,  especially,  against  manufacturers 
clamoring  for  fiscal  aid  as  being  little  less  than  "thieves  and 
robbers."  In  187G,  Laurier,  Charlton,  Joly,  Paterson,  and 
other  future  Liberal  leaders  appear  from  their  speeches  to 
have  been  inclined  toward  moderate  protective  duties.  But 
they  stood  by  their  party  for  the  time  and  nothing  came 
of  the  not  very  vigorously  expressed  opinions  in  this  direction. 

CHANGES  IN  LIBERAL,  TARIFF  POLICY 

In  1882  Mr.  Edward  Blake,  then  Leader  of  the  Opposi- 
tion, declared  himself  as  still  opposed  in  principle  to  protec- 
tion but  as  recognizing  that  "we  are  obliged  to  raise  yearly 
a  great  sum  mainly  by  import  duties  laid  to  a  great  extent  on 
goods  similar  to  those  which  can  be  manufactured  here ;  and 
it  results  as  a  necessary  incident  of  our  settled  fiscal  system 
that  there  must  be  a  large  and,  as  I  believe,  in  the  view  of 
moderate  protectionists,  an  ample  advantage  to  the  home 
manufacturer."  * 

Sir  Richard  Oartwright  and  other  leaders,  however,  con- 
tinued to  denounce  protection,  and  neither  the  manufac- 
turers nor  the  public  seemed  to  think  Mr.  Blake's  position 
strong  enough,  or  his  views  clear  enough,  to  warrant  confi- 
dence in  the  existing  fiscal  policy  being  reasonably  conserved 
under  his  auspices.  In  1 88 Y, therefore, he  determined  to  make 
the  situation  better  for  himself  and  his  party  by  a  practical 
declaration  that  the  National  Policy  would  be  maintained  if 
they  were  returned  to  power.  At  Malvern,  on  January  22d, 
in  a  speech  which  formed  the  keynote  of  the  ensuing  cam- 
paign, he  explained  that  his  opinions  of  1882  had  grown  in 
force  with  every  passing  year,  and  that  the  additions  to  the 
public  debt,  the  increase  in  the  annual  charges,  the  deficits 
between  revenue  and  expenditure,  had  made  aveiL  the  mod- 
erate readjustment  of  the  tariff  which  he  had  then  proposed 
impracticable.    "It  is  clearer  than  ever  that  a  very  high  scale 

•  Address  to  the  Electors  of  West  Durham,  dated  May  22,  1882. 


TARIFFS   AND    UNRESTRICTED   RECIPROCITY       889 


-TT  J 


of  taxation  must  be  retained  and  that  manufacturers  have 
nothing  to  fear."  And  then  he  proclaimed  his  programme 
to  be  a  fiscal  readjustment  which  should  be  directed  "to  such 
reductions  of  expenditure  as  may  allow  a  reduction  of  taxa- 
tion ;  to  the  lightening  of  taxes  upon  the  prime  necessaries 
of  life  and  upon  the  raw  material  of  manufactures;  to  a 
more  equitable  arrangement  of  the  taxes  which  now  bear  un- 
fairly upon  the  poor  as  compared  with  the  rich;  to  a  taxa- 
tion of  luxuries  just  so  high  as  will  not  thwart  our  object  by 
greatly  checking  consumption ;  to  the  curbing  of  monopolies 
of  production  in  cases  when,  by  combination  or  otherwise,  the 
tariff  allows  an  undue  or  exorbitant  profit  to  be  exacted  from 
the  consumers;  to  the  effort — a  most  important  point — ^to 
promote  reciprocal  trade  with  our  neighbors  to  the  south." 

Still,  the  electorate  remained  obdurate.  The  people  did 
not  care,  apparently,  to  intrust  the  administration  of  a  pro- 
tective tariff  to  leaders  who  had  always  been  bitterly  opposed 
to  the  principle — even  though  they  now  acknowledged  a 
change  of  conditions  and  a  modification  of  policy.  The  sec- 
ond failure,  however,  to  carry  the  country  bitterly  disap- 
pointed the  Opposition.  They  had  fully  expected  to  capture 
the  people  upon  the  combined  issue  of  RiePs  execution — in 
Quebec — and  an  acceptance  of  the  moderate  protective  policy 
— in  Ontario.  Fate  had  decreed  now  otherwise,  and  in  the 
autumn  of  1887,  after  Mr.  Blake  had  disappeared  from  the 
leadership  and  Mr.  Laurier  had  done  a  little  coquetting  with 
the  new  Imperial  preferential  idea  at  Somerset,  Quebec,  Sir 
Richard  Cartwright  declared  boldly  in  a  speech  at  Ingersoll, 
on  October  lYth,  for  a  clear-cut  policy  of  reciprocity  with 
the  United  States  in  agricultural  and  industrial  products. 
Free  trade  with  the  American  Republic  was  to  be  the  new 
policy,  the  path  to  power,  the  road  to  a  great  60,000,000  mar- 
ket, the  way  to  wealth  for  the  farmer,  the  miner,  and  the 
fisherman. 

It  was  a  courageous  programme,  proposed  by  a  man  who 
never  lacked  courage  during  a  long  political  career,  or  words 
of  biting  force  and  sarcasm  with  which  to  express  his  mean- 


890 


THE  STORY   OF   THE   DOMINION 


H 


[iwmii: 


ing.  He  once  more  threw  down  the  gauntlet  to  the  protection- 
ist. He  proclaimed,  and  very  truly,  the  impossibility  of 
obtaining  a  limited  reciprocity  in  agricultural  products  only. 
He  declared  his  willingness,  if  it  should  be  necessary,  to  dis- 
criminate against  Great  Britain  in  favor  of  American  prod- 
ucts. He  described  the  American  market  as  the  one  thing 
needful  to  produce  general  Canadian  prosperity  and  unlimited 
expansion  in  trade  and  production.  The  policy  was  not  alto- 
gether a  new  one,  although  the  title  "Unrestricted  Reci- 
procity" was  certainly  original.  Away  back  in  1870,  on 
March  16th,  Mr.  L.  S.  Huntington,  of  subsequent  Canadian 
Pacific  contract  fame,  had  moved  a  Resolution  in  the  House 
of  Commons  in  favor  of  a  Continental  trade  system  and  cus- 
toms union.  Parliament  promptly  voted  it  down,  and  only 
now  and  then  had  the  idea  since  been  heard  of  in  irrespon- 
sible quarters  in  Canada  and  the  United  States.  Reciprocity, 
itself,  was  frequently  advocated  and  promised,  but  speakers 
and  writers  were  alike  careful  to  limit  and  restrict  it  to 
agricultural  products  and  those  of  the  mine  and  the  sea.  In 
1885,  Mr.  (afterward  Sir)  L.  H.  Davies  had,  indeed,  moved 
for  "additional  reciprocal  freedom  in  the  trade  relations  of 
the  two  countries,"  but  the  phrase  was  a  sufficiently  vague  one 
to  mean  anything. 

THE    UNRESTRICTED    RECIPROCITY    MOVEMEITT 

Now  the  plunge  had  been  taken  and  a  few  days  later  rapid 
indorsement  came  in  a  unanimous  Resolution  of  approval 
passed  by  the  Inter-Provincial  Conference  which  met  at  Que- 
bec during  the  same  month  and  year  in  which  Sir  Richard 
Cartwright  made  his  speech  at  Ingersoll.  It  was  attended 
by  the  Liberal  Premiers  of  Quebec,  Ontario,  New  Bruns- 
wick, and  Nova  Scotia — Messrs.  Mercier,  Mowat,  Blair,  and 
Fielding;  by  Mr.  John  Norquay,  Premier  of  Manitoba — 
whose  Dominion  political  opinions  were  vague,  if  not  entirely 
absent;  by  other  representatives  of  these  Governments,  in- 
cluding the  Hon.  A.  S.  Hardy,  the  Hon.  G.  W.  Ross,  the 
Hon.  F.  G.  Marchand,  and  the  Hon.  J.  W.  Longley.     The 


TARIFFS   AND    UNRESTRICTED   RECIPROCITY       891 


Conference  passed  various  legitimate  motions  calculated  to 
embarrass  the  Federal  Government,  and  among  other  things 
declared  its  desire  to  record  "the  opinion  that  Unrestricted 
Reciprocity  would  be  of  advantage  to  all  the  Provinces  of  the 
Dominion"  and  its  belief  that  such  a  policy  would  improve 
relations  with  the  United  States  without  affecting  Canadian 
loyalty  toward  British  connection.  This  shows  a  pretty  rapid 
acceptance  of  the  new  policy. 

Strong  help  came,  also,  in  the  way  of  speeches  and  pam- 
phlets and  articles  in  newspapers  from  Dr.  Goldwin  Smith, 
Mr.  Erastus  Wiman,  Mr.  Valancy  E.  Fuller,  and  Mr.  J.  W. 
Longloy,  of  Nova  Scotia.  It  is  questionable  how  far  Dr. 
Goldwin  Smith  was  really  serviceable  to  the  movement.  His 
reputation  for  holding  annexationist  sentiments  was  a  pro- 
nounced one  and  he  did  not  now  hesitate  to  declare  publicly 
that  Unrestricted  Reciprocity  meant  the  acceptance  of  the 
American  tariff  against  the  world — including  the  British 
Empire — and  that  it  was  really  synonymous  with  the  Com- 
mercial Union  which  was  being  advocated  in  the  United 
States.  Mr.  Wiman  was  a  better  and  more  useful  supporter. 
He  was  at  this  time  an  eminently  successful  business  man  in 
New  York,  apparently  proud  of  his  brithright  as  a  Canadian, 
kind  and  helpful  to  every  one  from  his  native  land,  in  control 
of  one  of  the  great  telegraph  lines  of  the  Dominion  and  very 
ambitious  to  be  a  successful  public  leader.  During  the  next 
four  years  Sir  R.  Cartwright,  Mr.  Longley,  Liberal  Attorney- 
General  of  Nova  Scotia,  Mr.  Wiman,  and  Dr.  Goldwin  Smith 
fought  vigorously  and  spoke  frequently  for  the  new  policy. 
They  had  also  for  some  time  and  through  the  ensuing  elections, 
the  powerful  aid  of  the  Toronto  "Mail" — which  had  been 
steadily  drawing  away  from  Sir  John  Macdonald  ever  since  the 
days  of  the  Jesuits  Estates  agitation  and  did  not  return  to 
its  Conservative  allegiance  for  several  years  after  this  time. 

Gradually,  the  Liberal  party  swung  into  line  behind  its 
leaders  in  support  of  freer  trade  "with  the  continent  to  which 
we  belong,"  as  Mr.  Wiman  unfortunately  phrased  it.  The 
support  was  given  in  varying  degrees  and  under  differing 


892 


THE  STORY   OF   THE   DOMINION 


names  for  the  policy  itself,  while  the  attacks  upon  protection 
developed  renewed  strength  and  were  used  as  collateral  to  an 
aggressive  campaign  in  favor  of  the  American  trade  idea. 
Sir  Richard  Cartwright,  on  March  14,  1888,  moved  in  the 
House  of  Commons  the  following  Resolution: 

"That  it  is  highly  desirable  that  the  largest  possible  freedom  of  com- 
mercial intercourse  should  obtain  between  the  Dominion  of  Canada  and 
the  United  States,  and  that  it  is  expedient  that  all  articles  manufactured 
in,  or  the  natural  products  of  either  of  the  said  countries,  should  be  ad- 
mitted free  of  duty  into  the  ports  of  the  other-  -articles  subject  to  duties 
of  excise  or  of  internal  revenue  alone  excepted.  That  it  is  further  ex- 
pedient that  the  Government  of  the  Dominion  phould  take  steps  at  an 
early  date  to  ascertain  on  what  terms  and  conditions  arrangements  can 
be  effected  with  the  United  States  for  the  purpose  of  securing  full  and 
unrestricted  reciprocity  of  trade  therewith." 

This  explicitly  defined  the  new  stand  of  the  Opposition  and 
precipitated  an  issue  which  the  Government  met  with  an 
amendment  proposed  by  Mr.  George  E.  Foster,  Minister  of 
Finance,  and  couched  in  equally  clear  and  explicit  terms: 
"That  Canada  in  the  future,  as  in  the  past,  is  desirous  of 
cultivating  and  extending  trade  relations  with  the  United 
States  so  far  as  they  may  not  conflict  with  the  policy  of 
fostering  the  various  industries  and  interests  of  the  Dominion 
which  was  adopted  in  18Y9  and  which  has  since  received,  in 
80  marked  a  manner,  the  sanction  and  approval  of  the  peo- 
ple." The  amendment  was  duly  carried,  after  prolonged  dis- 
cussiori.,  and  upon  a  party  division  of  124  to  67.  Later  in 
the  Session  a  similar  Resolution  to  that  of  Sir  Richard  was 
moved  by  Mr.  A.  G.  Jones — afterward  Lieutenant-Governor 
of  Nova  Scotia — and  defeated ;  while  in  the  succeeding  year, 
on  March  5th,  Sir  Richard  Cartwright  took  advantage  of 
favorable  Commercial  Union  motions  having  passed  the 
House  of  Representatives  at  Washington  to  again  urge  that 
steps  be  taken  "for  the  purpose  of  securing  full  and  unre- 
stricted reciprocity  of  trade"  with  the  Republic. 

Meanwhile,  recognizing  clearly,  though  not  publicly,  the 
difficulty  of  negotiating  trade  treaties,  or  making  any  com- 
Biercial  arrangement  with  the  United  States  which  would 
involve  a  preference  against  Great  Britain  through  British 


TARIFFS    AND    UNRESTRICTED    RECIPROCITY       393 


the 


plenipotentiaries,  the  Liberal  leaders  were  urging  and  advo- 
cating the  Colonial  right  to  negotiate  independently  of  Impe- 
rial authorities.  On  February  18,  1889,  Sir  Kichard  Cart- 
wright  embodied  thia  collateral  policy,  or  branch  of  the  gen- 
eral party  policy,  in  a  motion  which  he  presented  to  the 
House  of  Commons  and  which  declared  that  "the  Govern- 
ment and  Parliament  of  Canada  should  acquire  the  power 
of  negotiating  commercial  treaties  with  foreign  States,"  and 
should  be  enabled,  by  Imperial  permission,  "to  enter  into 
direct  communication  with  any  foreign  State  for  the  purpose 
of  negotiating  commercial  arrangements." 

Such  was  the  general  issue  before  the  people  when  the 
elections  of  1891  were  fought.  There  is  no  doubt  that  the 
Government,  in  the  years  between  1887  and  1891  underesti- 
mated the  progress  of  this  movement  and  the  growing  strength 
of  a  free-trade  feeling  in  the  country  which  had  been  fostered 
by  the  growth  of  commercial  depression,  by  the  continuous 
propaganda  of  the  now  active  and  fighting  Opposition,  and 
by  a  strong  belief  among  the  farmers  that  protection  had  not 
been  as  beneficial  to  them  as  it  should  have  been  and  that  they 
might,  perhaps,  be  helped  by  trying  the  new  policy.  Sir 
John  Macdonald  saw  clearly  enough  the  American  tendencies 
of  the  movement  and  the  inevitable  toboggan  slide  toward  an- 
nexation and  away  from  Britain  which  would  be  created  by 
any  system  of  Continental  commercial  union ;  and  he  appears 
at  first  to  have  thought  that  the  mass  of  the  people  could  see 
them  as  clearly  as  he  did,  Fortunately,  a  number  of  men 
unconnected  with,  or  indifferent  to,  party  affiliations  recog- 
nized the  danger  of  allowing  things  to  drift  and  the  history  of 
the  Imperial  Federation  League  in  Canada  during  these  years 
is  an  active  record  of  strong,  steady  opposition,  in  a  stream 
of  pamphlet  and  leaflet  literature  and  by  a  continuous  suc- 
cession of  public  meetings,  to  anything  savoring  of  anti- 
British  fiscal  legislation.  The  League  and  its  leaders  did 
more  than  this.  They  provided  an  alternative  policy,  a  bet- 
ter principle,  and  urged  strenuously  the  new  idea  of  a  closer 
commercial  relationship  with  the  Motherland. 


894 


TEE  STORY  OF   '^HE  DOMINION 


THE  ELECTIONS  OF   1891 

The  situation,  however,  was  a  sufficiently  serious  one  when 
Sir  John  Macdonald,  early  in  1891,  decided  to  appeal  to  the 
country.  He  had  been  roused  to  the  necessity  of  doing  some- 
thing in  the  preceding  year,  and  no  occurrence  in  his  career 
better  illustrates  the  natural  tact  and  political  finesse  of  the 
veteran  leader  than  the  negotiations  into  which  he  had  en- 
tered, in  December,  1890,  with  the  United  States.  There  is 
little  reason  to  suppose  that  he  really  expected  success  at  a 
time  when  the  Canadian  Opposition  was  announcing  its  will- 
ingness to  go  much  further  in  trade  concessions  than  he 
would,  or  could,  dream  of  doing,  and  when  the  United  States 
leaders  were  pretty  well  known  to  be  in  favor  of  a  complete 
commercial  union  between  the  two  countries  while  opposed 
— as  they  had  been  since  1866 — to  any  ordinary  modifica- 
tion, or  renewal,  of  the  old  Reciprocity  Treaty.  However,  it 
was  an  exceedingly  clever  political  stroke  which  followed  the 
announceni3nt  of  the  dissolution  of  Parliament,  on  February 
3,  1891,  with  the  publication  of  a  despatch  sent  by  the  Gov- 
ernor-General to  the  Colonial  Secretary  on  the  preceding 
13th  of  December,  and  which  outlined  the  terms  of  certain 
negotiations  into  which  his  Ministers  desired  to  enter  with 
the  American  Government,  lb  was  proposed  that  a  joint 
Commission,  similar  to  that  of  1871,  should  be  formed  with 
power  to  deal  with  the  following  questions: 

1.  Renewal  of  the  Reciprocity  Treaty  of  1854-66  with  nec- 
essary modificatio7is. 

2.  Reconsideration  of  the  Fishery  Treaty  of  1888,  which 
had  been  rejected  by  the  United  States  Senate,  with  a  view  to 
reciprocity  in  fish  and  in  the  privileges  of  buying  bait,  trans- 
shipment of  fish,  etc. 

3.  Protection  of  mackerel  and  other  fisheries  on  the  Atlan- 
tic Coast  and  in  the  inland  waters  of  the  country. 

4.  Relaxation  of  the  seaboard  coasting  laws  of  the  Domin- 
ion and  the  Republic,  and  also  of  those  in  force  on  the  Great 
Lakes. 


TARIFFS   AND    UNRESTRICTED   RECIPROCITY       896 


en- 


5.  Mutual  salvage  and  saving  of  wrecked  vessels. 

6.  Arrangements  for  settling  the  boundary  between  Alaska 
and  Canada. 

The  indignation  of  the  Opposition  at  ihis  announcement 
showed  its  importance.  Everything  that  could  be  done  to 
minimize  its  value  was  done,  however,  even  to  the  publication 
of  a  letter  signed  by  Mr.  James  G.  Blaine,  the  United  States 
Secretary  of  State,  declaring  that  only  the  very  widest  form 
of  Reciprocity — the  Opposition  policy  in  fact — would  be  con- 
sidered by  the  American  Government.  To  some  extent  the 
effort  was  successful,  and,  seeing  that  it  was  necessary  to 
stimulate  the  sentiment  of  his  own  party  and  to  rally  around 
him  an  element  which  had  become  dissatisfied  with  the  Lib- 
eral policy  and  its  tendencies.  Sir  John  Macdonald,  for  the 
first  and  last  time  in  his  career,  issued  a  political  Manifesto. 
It  was  published  on  February  8th,  and  contained  the  most 
stirring  appeal  to  British  sentiment  and  Canadian  loyalty 
which  has  been  addressed,  since  the  days  of  Brock,  to  the 
people  of  British  America. 

He  declared  the  policy  of  the  Conservative  party  to  be  one 
of  fostering  the  resources  of  Canada  by  every  possible  means 
consistent  with  its  position  "as  an  integral  portion  of  the  Brit- 
ish Empire."  He  denounced  the  Opposition  policy  of  free 
trade  with  the  United  States  as  involving  "among  other  grave 
evils,  discrimination  against  the  Mother-country" ;  and  ex- 
pressed his  earnest  belief  thai  it  would  in  that  event  "inevi- 
tably result  in  annexation  to  the  United  States."  He  gave 
strong  reasons  for  believing  that  the  loss  of  revenue  from 
American  goods  under  such  a  policy  would  involve  direct 
taxation  of  the  people  to  the  figure  of  at  least  $7,000,000. 
He  declared  that  in  consequence  of  the  Canadian  tariff  against 
other  countries  having  to  be  the  same  as  that  of  the  United 
States,  in  order  to  prevent  the  wholesale  importation  of  goods 
by  way  of  Canada  under  its  existent  lower  grade  of  duties, 
the  proposed  policy  meant  the  practical  control  of  the  Cana- 
dian tariff  at  Washington.  He  appealed  in  ringing  words  to 
the  loyalty  of  the  people  to  past  affiliations  and  traditions,  to 


I 


896 


TBE  STORY   OF  THE  DOMlNlOlf      a^'t 


British  institutions  and  ideals,  to  the  affection  for  the  throne 
and  the  flag  of  Empire  and  liberty.  He  concluded  an  Ad- 
dress which  deserves  a  high  place  for  its  literary  excellence, 
as  well  as  for  its  historical  significance,  with  a  paragraph 
marked  by  pathos  as  well  as  patriotism :  '^' 

"A  British  subject  I  was  born — a  British  subject  I  will  die.  With  my 
utmost  strength,  with  my  latest  breath,  will  I  oppose  the  'veiled  treason' 
which  attempts  by  sordid  means  and  mercenary  proffers  i,o  lure  our 
people  from  their  allegiance.  During  my  long  public  service  of  nearly 
half  a  century  I  have  been  true  to  my  country  and  its  best  interests, 
and  I  appeal  with  equal  confidence  to  the  men  who  have  trusted  me  in 
the  past  and  to  the  young  hope  of  the  country  with  whom  rest  its 
destinies  in  the  future,  to  give  me  their  united  and  strenuous  aid  in  this 
my  last  effort  for  the  unity  of  the  Empire  and  the  preservation  of  our 
commercial  and  political  freedom." 

The  Manifesto  had  an  instant  effect  upon  the  situation, 
and  the  declaration  of  being  born  and  intending  to  die  a  Brit- 
ish subject  rang  through  the  community  like  a  slogan  of  war. 
"The  old  man,  the  old  flag,  and  the  old  policy"  became  the 
party  war-cry,  and  echoed  from  the  Atlantic  to  the  Pacific, 
from  the  backwoods  of  Nova  Scotia  to  the  prairies  of  the 
West. 

'■  Mr.  Wilfrid  Laurier,  as  the  leader  of  the  Liberal  party, 
although  Sir.  R.  Cartwright  had  been  the  leader  in  the  Reci- 
procity agitation  from  the  first,  promptly  answered  Sir  John':, 
Manifesto  with  an  Address  to  the  people  of  Canada,  which 
was  issued  on  February  12th.  In  it  he  denounced  the 
premature  dissolution  of  Parliament  as  being  intended  to 
stampede  the  public  into  a  hasty  and  unconsidered  verdict; 
declared  the  existing  Franchise  Act  a  measure  of  gross  in- 
justice and  calculated  insufficiency;  arraigned  the  National 
Policy  as  injurious  to  the  farmer  and  a  failure  in  stopping 
the  migration  of  people  to  the  States,  or  in  promoting  indi- 
vidual employment  and  better  wages ;  proclaimed  his  personal 
and  party  loyalty  to  the  Crown  and  to  British  connection; 
expressed  the  belief  that,  under  the  proposed  reform  of  "ab- 
solute reciprocal  freedom  of  trade  between  Canada  and  the 
United  States,"  direct  taxation  would  be  unnecessary  and  an 
assimilation  of  tariffs  not  inevitable.     Upon  the  all-impor- 


TAR1FF8  AND    UNRESTRICTED   RECIPROCITY       397 


tant  point  of  discrimination  against  Great  Britain,  under 
free  trade  with  the  United  States,  and  the  Conservative  state- 
ment that  it  was  involved  by  the  very  nature  of  things,  he 
submitted  a  simple  denial  and  the  following  significant  but 
vague  statement: 


•>. 


"It  can  not  be  expected,  it  were  f(  y  to  expect,  that  the  interests  of  a 
Colony  should  always  be  identical  with  the  interests  of  the  Motherland. 
The  day  must  come  when,  from  no  other  cause  than  the  development  of 
national  life  in  the  Colony,  there  must  be  a  clashing  of  interests  with 
the  Motherland,  and,  in  any  euch  ease,  much  as  I  would  regret  the 
necessity,  I  would  stand  by  my  native  land." 

In  the  contest  which  followed,  a  keen  and  spirited  interest 
was  taken  by  the  people,  and,  as  its  issues  developed  in  Im- 
perial and  international  importance,  the  press  of  the  United 
Kingdom,  of  the  far-away  Australasian  Colonies,  and  of  the 
United  States,  made  it  a  subject  of  critical  comment  and 
consideration.  The  result  became  more  and  more  doubtful 
as  the  days  progressed,  and  party  calls  from  all  parts  of  the 
Dominion  came  to  Ottawa  for  the  per3onal  presence  of  Sir 
John  Macdonald.  His  health  was  not  good,  he  had  reached 
an  age  when  some  measure  of  rest  and  relief  from  responsi- 
bility and  active  campaigning  was  necessary,  and  his  physi- 
cians warned  him  that  to  take  a  prominent  part  in  the  battle 
could  only  be  done  at  the  risk  of  his  life.  But  he  could  not 
resist  the  pressure  of  popular  demand  from  within  his  party, 
the  personal  conviction  of  how  much  depended  upon  the  re- 
sult, the  knowledge  that  it  was  now  in  grave  doubt.  He, 
therefore,  threw  himself  with  intense  vigor  into  the  campaign, 
and,  from  his  standpoint,  not  a  moment  too  soon. 

The  elements  favorable  to  the  Liberals  consisted  in  the 
sentiment  already  worked  up  on  behalf  of  a  wide  reciprocity 
with  the  United  States ;  the  depression  among  fanners  caused 
by  the  McKinley  Act ;  the  influence  of  Mr.  Laurier's  persua- 
sive eloquence  and  pleasing  personality — especially  among 
French  Canadians;  the  dying,  but  still  influential,  efforts  of 
the  Equal  Rights  Association  in  Ontario ;  the  powerful  work 
done  by  Mr.  Mcrcier,  who  was  still  Premier  of  Quebec,  and 
who  postponed  an  intended  visit  to  Europe  in  order  to  retain 


898 


THE   STORY   OF   THE   DOMINION 


his  place  beside  "my  esteemed  chief,  M.  Wilfrid  Laurier,"  as 
he  declared  at  a  mass-meeting  in  Montreal  on  February  9th ; 
the  fact  of  sundry  electoral  scandals,  implicating  the  Con- 
servative party,  having  been  made  public  du/ing  the  last 
Session  of  Parliament ;  the  constant  and  scarifying  criticisms 
of  Sir  Richard  Cartwright ;  the  warm  and  hostile  co-operation 
of  nearly  all  the  Provincial  Premiers — including  the  pro- 
nounced influence  of  Mr.  Oliver  Mowat  in  Ontario,  of  Mr. 
Mercier  in  Quebec,  of  Mr.  Greenway  in  Manitoba,  of  Mr. 
A.  G.  Blair  of  New  Brunswick,  and  of  Mr.  W.  S.  Fielding 
in  Nova  Scotia.  ■•  i   , 

The  elements  favorable  to  the  Conservative  party  were, 
first  and  foremost,  the  magnetic,  popular  personality  of  their 
leader  as  he  once  more  came  into  close  touch  with  the  people ; 
the  splendid  support  of  Sir  Charles  Tupper,  who  had  been 
called  from  England  and  his  work  as  High  Commissioner  to 
help  in  this  vital  contest;  the  assistance  of  Sir  John  Thomp- 
son, with  his  deliberate  and  convincing  oratory,  and  of  Hon. 
George  E.  Foster,  with  his  more  effective  and  popular  style ; 
the  publication  of  correspondence,  verging  on  treason,  which 
had  passed  between  Mr.  Edward  Farrar,  the  one-time  Editor 
of  the  Toronto  "Mail,"  and  at  this  particular  moment  an  edi- 
torial writer  on  the  Liberal  organ — the  Toronto  "Globe" ; 
the  support  given  to  the  Opposition  by  Mr.  Goldwin  Smith, 
and  the  consequent  increase  of  suspicion  regarding  the  loyalty 
of  their  policy;  the  continued  feeling  of  manufacturers  in 
favor  of  protection  and  their  natural  fear  of  Unrestricted 
Reciprocity;  the  rapidly  growing  expression  of  a  hitherto 
dormant  but  very  real  and  strong  loyalty  to  British  connec- 
tion in  all  parties  and  among  all  classes;  the  activity  of  a 
small  band  of  Imperialists  who  were  straining  every  nerve 
to  develop  antagonism  to  and  fear  of  the  Continental  trade 
idea. 

DEATH   OF   SIR   JOHN   MACDONALD 

The  result  of  the  struggle  was  a  victory  for  the  Conserva- 
tive chieftain  and  his  Government  by  a  majority  of  between 


TARIFFS   AND    UNRESTRICTED   RECIPROCITY       899 


»» 


twenty  and  thirty.  Two  members  of  the  Ministry  were  de- 
feated, Mr.  C.  C.  Colby  and  Mr.  (afterward  Sir)  John  Car- 
ling,  and  two  leaders  of  the  Opposition,  Mr.  A.  G.  Jones  and 
Mr.  Peter  Mitchell.  It  was  Sir  John  Macdonald's  last  po- 
litical success.  Against  the  earnest  advice  of  his  physicians, 
the  veteran  leader,  now  in  his  seventy-seventh  year,  had  gone 
into  the  contest  with  an  energy  which  seemed  marvelous  in 
one  of  his  admittedly  feeble  frame.  He  had  been  every- 
where urging  on  the  struggle,  putting  life  and  soul  into  his 
supporters,  arousing  the  enthusiasm  of  great  audiences  as 
only  his  magnetic  personality  could  have  done,  soothing  dif- 
ferences and  smoothing  away  obstacles  with  his  curious  com- 
bination of  tact  and  personal  charm,  giving  to  the  campaign, 
in  short,  that  swing  of  victory  which  was  needed  to  overcome 
the  many  adverse  circumstances  of  the  moment.  Without 
him  the  party  would  most  certainly  have  been  defeated,  and, 
knowing  this,  he  had  fought  one  more  battle  for  what  he 
believed  to  be  the  fundamental  principles  of  Canadian  na- 
tionality and  progress — British  connection  and  loyalty  to  the 
close  and  honorable  union  of  the  Dominion  and  Empire. 

His  efforts  in  managing  the  campaign  and  addressing  au- 
diences almost  daily  for  weeks — upon  one  occasion  he  spoke 
five  times  in  the  twenty-four  hours — were  too  much  for  his 
physical  strength  and  he  came  back  to  Ottawa  to  die.  At 
first  it  was  only  reported  that  he  needed  rest,  and  then,  after 
the  meeting  of  Parliament  at  the  end  of  April,  he  was  said 
to  be  unwell.  But  the  serious  attack  did  not  come  until  the 
29th  of  May,  although  there  had  been  premonitions  in  plenty. 
Then,  in  a  moment,  the  paralytic  seizure  came  and  stilled  the 
busy  brain,  numbed  the  marvelous  faculties  and  silenced  for- 
ever the  voice  which  had  so  long  been  the  voice  of  Canada. 
During  the  week  of  anxious  waiting  which  followed  political 
lines  were  obliterated  and  the  people  of  Canada  stood  beside 
that  sick-bed  at  Eamscliffe  where  the  greatest  of  the  builders 
of  the  Empire,  the  wisest  of  Canadian  leaders,  lay  fighting 
a  last  silent  struggle  with  the  most  powerful  of  all  foes. 
Parliament  had  promptly  adjourned,  the  Queen  sent  daily 


W 


400 


THE   STORY    OF    THE    DOMINION 


I 


cables  of  inquiry,  the  people  began  to  understand  what  a  great 
figure  was  passing  away,  the  politicians  commenced  to  tremble 
for  the  future  of  the  party  which  he  had  led  and  made  almost 
synonymous  with  himself.  On  June  6th  Sir  John  passed 
away,  and  the  mourning  which  followed  throughout  the  Do- 
minion was  as  remarkable  in  its  intensity  and  personal  note 
of  pain  as  the  scenes  surrounding  the  state  funeral  of  the 
late  Premier  from  Ottawa  to  his  burial  place  at  Kingston 
were  notable  for  their  splendor.  During  immediately  suc- 
ceeding years  monuments  were  erected  to  his  memory  at  To- 
ronto, Kingston,  Ottawa,  Hamilton,  and  Montreal,  but  it  is 
historically  safe  to  say  that  his  most  enduring  memorial  has 
since  been  found  in  the  hearts  of  his  fellow-countrymen. 

RESULTS   OF   THE    ELECTION 

Politics  were  now  in  a  turmoil.  The  late  leader  had  been 
unable  to  suggest  a  successor  during  his  last  days,  but  the 
man  who  should,  properly,  have  followed  him  in  power  was 
his  lifelong  friend  and  right-hand  supporter — Sir  Charles 
Tupper.  His  work  for  Confederation,  his  labors  for  Cana- 
dian Pacific  Railway  construction,  his  battles  for  the  Na- 
tional Policy,  his  foremost  place  beside  Sir  John  Macdonald 
in  the  fight  against  Unrestricted  Reciprocity,  all  pointed 
him  out  as  the  legitimate  leader  of  the  party.  But  he  was 
away  in  London  again  acting  as  High  Commissioner;  it  was 
thought  by  many  that  he  would  not  care  for  the  position ;  he 
did  not  hold  a  seat  in  Parliament ;  and  he  made  no  sign  him- 
self concerning  the  matter.  Hence  different  wings  of  the 
party  nominated  their  favorites.  Principal  Grant  urged  Sir 
Charles  Tupper,  as  did  many  others;  Mr.  Chapleau  pressed 
the  name,  and  justly  praised  the  ability,  of  Sir  John  Thomp- 
son; "Le  Monde"  and  other  French  journals  urged  the  pro- 
longed service  of  Sir  Hector  Langevin  and  the  fact  of  his 
being  the  recognized  leader  of  the  party  in  Quebec;  there 
was  talk  of  Mr.  (afterward  Sir)  W.  R.  Meredith,  who  for 
many  years  had  led  the  Conservative  Opposition  in  the  Pro- 
vincial Legislature  of  Ontario;  there  was  a  presentation  of 


TARIFFS   AND    UNRESTRICTED   RECIPROCITY       401 


him- 
)i  the 
3(1  Sir 
fessed 


the  claims  of  Mr.  D' Alton  McCarthy,  whose  ability  and  Im- 
perialistic views  overshadowed  the  memory  of  his  past  dif- 
ferences with  the  party.  Finally,  it  was  announced  that  the 
Governor-General  after  a  conference  with  Sir  John  Thomp- 
son and  the  Hon.  J.  J.  C.  Abbott — who  had  been  Conserva- 
tive leader  in  the  Senate  and  was  known  as  a  man  of  wide 
constitutional  knowledge  and  keen  executive  ability — had 
asked  the  latter  to  take  the  Premiership. 

His  Government  was  much  the  same  in  composition  as  the 
preceding  one  and  it  had  no  easy  task  before  it.  The  cor- 
ruptions and  slanders  inevitably  surrounding  an  Administra- 
tion fourteen  years  old  were  all  met  in  an  avalanche  of  charge 
and  denunciation  during  the  first  Session  of  the  leadership 
of  Mr.  (soon  to  be  Sir  John)  Abbott  in  the  Senate,  and  of 
Sir  John  Thompson  in  the  Commons.  Under  it  Sir  Hector 
Langevin  disappeared  from  public  position;  Sir  Adolphe 
Caron  had  to  fight  for  his  political  life ;  Mr.  J.  G.  Haggart 
had  to  meet  serious  charges,  as  did  Mr.  J.  A.  Chapleau.  It 
was  the  most  arduous  Session  since  Confederation  and  cer- 
tainly the  most  unpleasant.  It  revealed  the  existence  of  care- 
lessness in  some  of  the  Departments  and  of  considerable  cor- 
ruption in  public  life,  but  it  did  not  prove  personal  dishon- 
esty or  corruption  against  any  of  the  Ministers.  The  Census 
of  the  Dominion  had,  meanwhile,  been  taken  and  had  shown 
an  increase  of  population  from  3,686,000  in  1871  to  4,324,- 
000  in  1881  and  to  4,829,000  in  1891.  A  redistribution  of 
seats  and  representation  was,  therefore,  necessary,  and  in 
April  of  the  succeeding  year  Sir  John  Thompson  intro- 
duced a  measure  to  this  end  which  finally  passed  after  bitter 
Opposition  denunciation  as  being  a  gerrymander  and  "a  plan 
for  deliberately  stifling  the  voice  of  the  people."      ;:   '  '       ' 

Meantime,  the  aftermath  of  the  political  struggle  of  1891 
had  come  in  two  very  important  events.  On  the  day  follow- 
ing the  general  elections  p  long  letter  was  published  from  the 
pen  of  Mr.  Edward  Blake  as  addressed  to  his  constituents  in 
West  Durham  some  time  before  election  day.  It  explained 
minutely,  though  not  always  clearly,  his  reasons  for  retiring 


I 


•if 


402 


THE  STORY   OF   THE  DOMINION 


from  public  life  at  that  juncture  and  declining  their  renomi- 
nation  for  Parliament.  It  denounced  the  National  Policy  in 
great  detail  and  in  the  severest  terms  and  painted  so  dark  a 
picture  of  the  country,  and  its  present  and  future  position, 
as  to  make  the  document  a  veritable  triumph  of  pessimism  in 
thought  and  language.  Then  the  writer  turned  to  the  subject 
of  Unrestricted  Reciprocity  and  declared  that  it  would  give 
the  country  the  blessings  of  a  measure  of  free  trade  greater 
than  was  otherwise  attainable ;  would  advance  the  Dominion's 
most  material  interests  and  its  most  natural  and  largest  in- 
dustries; would  create  an  influx  of  capital  and  population 
and,  in  a  word,  give  to  the  country  its  chiefest  needs — men, 
money,  and  markets. 

But  it  would,  also,  he  declared,  involve  differential  duties 
against  the  United  Kingdom  and  the  rest  of  the  world;  it 
would  cause  great  gaps  in  the  revenue  and  leave  the  country 
with  an  immense  deficit  which  could  only  be  met  by  direct 
taxes — and  these  he  believed  to  be  impossible  under  existing 
conditions  of  popular  opinion ;  it  would  require  "as  to  the 
bulk  by  agreement  and  as  to  much,  from  the  necessity  of  the 
case,  the  substantial  assimilation  in  their  leading  features, 
of  the  tariffs"  of  Canada  and  the  United  States;  it  must  of 
necessity  be  a  permanent  arrangement  in  order  to  conserve 
financial  credit  and  industrial  interests,  and  this  was  impos' 
sible  without  a  control  of  the  Canadian  tariif  by  the  American 
Congress — in  which  the  Dominion  "would  have  much  less  in- 
fluence in  procuring  or  preventing  changes  than  she  would 
enjoy  did  she  compose  several  States  of  the  Union."  He  con- 
cluded an  elaborate,  able,  and  in  parts  logical  presentation 
of  the  whole  political  issue  in  the  late  campaign  with  the 
following  words: 


"The  tendency  in  Canada  of  unrestricted  free  trade  with  the  States, 
high  duties  being  maintained  against  the  United  Kingdom,  would  be 
toward  political  union;  and  the  more  successful  the  plan  the  stronger 
the  tendency  both  by  reason  of  the  community  of  interest,  the  inter- 
mingling of  populations,  the  more  intimate  business  and  social  connec 
tions,  and  the  trade  and  ilscal  relations  amounting  to  dependency  which 
it  would  create  with  the  States;  and  of  the  greater  isolation  and  di- 


TARIFFS   AND    UNRESTRICTED    RECIPROCITY       408 

vergency  from  Britain  which  it  would  produce;  and  also,  and  eopetially, 
through  inconvenience  experienced  in  the  maintenance  and  apprehen- 
sions entertained  as  to  the  termination  of  the  Treaty." 


connec 
by  which 
and  di- 


This  deliverance  came  like  a  thunderbolt  upon  the  Liberal 
party.  Had  it  been  published  when  written,  and  before  elec- 
tion day,  Sir  John  Macdonald  would,  probably,  have  had  the 
largest  majority  in  Canadian  history.  As  it  was,  this  presen- 
tation of  the  real  issue  in  its  naked  shape  shocked  the  inherent 
loyalty  of  Canadian  Liberalism  and  opened  the  eyes  of  many 
an  honest  and  honorable  advocate  of  the  policy  which  Sir 
John  had  so  strenuously  denounced  in  words  deemed  by  his 
opponents  to  be  the  mere  echo  of  partisan  thoughts  and  fears. 
The  practical  result  was  seen  in  the  by-elections  which  fol- 
lowed in  1892,  from  the  unseating  of  a  number  of  members, 
and  in  which  the  Conservatives  swept  everything  before  them 
with  swinging  majorities. 

During  this  period  a  further  and  final  incident  in  the  his- 
tory of  this  trade  and  fiscal  movement  took  place.  In  pursu- 
ance of  their  pledges  to  the  people  at  the  elections  the  Canadian 
Government  arranged,  after  many  delays  on  the  part  of  Amer- 
ican authorities,  for  a  Conference  to  discuss  international 
relations.  Messrs.  James  G.  Blaine  and  J.  W.  Foster  repre- 
sented the  United  States,  and  Mr.  Mackenzie  Bowell,  Sir 
John  Thompson,  and  Mr.  G.  E.  Foster  the  Dominion.  After 
a  prolonged  discussion — February,  1892 — upon  trade  and 
reciprocity  matters,  it  was  found  impossible  to  come  to  any 
understanding.  Mr.  Blaine  insisted  absolutely  upon  the  free 
admission  into  Canada  of  American  manufactures,  and  de- 
clared that  an  arrangement  could  only  be  consummated  "by 
making  the  tariff  uniform  for  both  countries  and  equalizing 
the  Canadian  tariff  (against  Great  Britain,  etc.)  with  that  of 
the  United  States."  The  statements  of  the  American  nego- 
tiators were  most  explicit  and  are  recorded  in  an  official 
document*  signed  by  the  Canadian  negotiators  and  indorsed 
by  Sir  Julian  Pauncefote,  the  British  Ambassador  at  Wash- 

*  Canadian  Sessional  Papers,  Volume  26th,  Number  52,  1892. 


I 


■  !     f 


404 


THE  STORY   OF   THE  DOMINION 


ington,  in  the  words :  "I  concur  in  the  above  Minute  of  Pro- 
ceedings." 

This  was  the  end  of  the  Unrestricted  Reciprocity,  or  Com- 
mercial Union  movement.  The  Liberal  leaders  turned  to  the 
safer  paths  of  simple  tariff  denunciation  and  the  advocacy 
of  a  generally  freer  trade.  These  were  embodied  in  a  Reso- 
lution presented  to  the  Commons  by  Sir  Richard  Cartwright 
on  February  16,  1893.  During  the  succeeding  year,  on 
March  28th,  the  same  leader  once  more  presented  a  motion 
which,  nominally,  coilstituted  the  Liberal  fiscal  platform  in 
the  elections  of  1896 :  ^'That  the  highest  interests  of  Canada 
demand  the  adoption  of  a  sound  fiscal  policy  which,  while  not 
doing  injustice  to  any  class,  will  promote  domestic-  and  for- 
eign trade  aiid  hasten  the  return  of  prosperity  to  our  people; 
that,  to  that  end,  the  tariff  should  be  reduced  to  the  needs  of 
honest,  economical,  and  eflScient  government,  should  have 
eliminated  from  it  the  principle  of  protection  to  particular 
industries  at  the  expense  of  the  community  at  large,  and 
should  be  imposed  for  revenue  only ;  that  it  should  be  so  ad- 
justed as  to  make  free,  or  bear  as  lightly  as  possible  upon, 
the  necessaries  of  life  and  to  promote  freer  trade  with  the 
whole  world — particularly  with  Great  Britain  and  the  United 
States."  The  motions  were,  of  course,  defeated  by  party  di- 
visions, but  they  clearly  indicated  the  gradually  changing  lines 
of  policy. 

On  June  20,  1893,  a  Convention  of  Liberals  had  been  held 
at  Ottawa  to  define  the  position  of  the  party  and  it  had  taken 
lines  similar  to  those  embodied  in  the  above  motion.  The 
Resolutions  passed  declared  that  the  tariff  of  the  Dominion 
"should  be  based,  not  as  it  is  now,  upon  the  protective  prin- 
ciple, but  upon  the  requirements  of  the  public  service" ;  de- 
nounced the  National  Policy  as  having  developed  monopolies, 
trusts,  and  combinations,  decreased  the  value  of  farm  lands, 
oppressed  the  masses  in  favor  of  the  few,  checked  immigra- 
tion, driven  people  out  of  the  country,  and  impeded  commerce ; 
proclaimed  protection  to  be  ''radically  unsound  and  unjust 
to  the  masses  of  the  people" ;  declared  the  necessity  of  tariff 


TARIFFS   AND    UNRESTRICTED   RECIPROCITY       405 


fPro 

•  Com- 

to  the 
vocacy 
I  Reso- 
;wright 
jar,   on 
motion 
brm  in 
Canada 
liile  not 
md  for- 
people ; 
leeds  of 
Id  have 
irticular 
ge,  and 
e  80  ad- 
e  upon, 
vith  the 

United 
)arty  di- 
ing  lines 

een  held 
d  taken 
The 
ominion 
ve  prin- 
ce"; de- 
nopolies, 
tn  lands, 
mmigra- 
mmerce ; 
I  unjust 
of  tariff 


n. 


changes  which  should  afford  "substantial  relief  from  the  bur- 
dens under  which  the  country  labors."  References  were  also 
made  to  the  desirability  of  Reciprocity,  the  success  of  the  old- 
time  Treaty  of  1864;  and  the  belief  of  the  party  that  a  fair 
measure  might  still  be  obtained  which  should  include  "a  well- 
considered  list  of  manufactured  articles."  During  the  next 
three  years,  however.  Reciprocity  dropped  largely  out  of  Lib- 
eral advocacy,  and  in  the  elections  of  1896,  though  the  quo- 
tations given  constituted  the  nominal  policy  of  the  Opposition, 
still  less  was  heard  of  it  and  nothing  at  all  of  the  unrestricted 
variety.  Other  issues  had  come  up,  and  upon  them  the  battle 
was  fought,  and  this  time  won  by  Liberalism  and  Laurier. 

In  the  succeeding  four  years  of  Liberal  rule  Reciprocity 
came  to  the  front  upon  only  one  occasion.  An  effort  was 
made  to  obtain  some  arrangement  of  this  character  during 
the  mettings  of  the  Joint  High  Commission  which  were  held 
in  Quebec  and  Washington  in  August,  September,  and  Oc- 
tober, 1898.  It  was  a  far-reaching  Conference,  however, 
and  other  issues  which  intervened  finally  terminated  the  pro- 
ceedings without  any  definite  decision  being  reached.  So 
far  as  trade  relations  between  Canada  and  the  United  States 
were  concerned  it  was  found  by  the  Government  of  Sir  Wil- 
frid Laurier,  as  it  had  been  by  that  of  Sir  John  Macdonald, 
that  Reciprocity  was  not  obtainable  upon  terms  compatible 
with  the  honorable  maintenance  of  Canada's  place  in  the 
British  Empire.  A  Commercial  Union  such  as  Mr.  Blaine 
had  proposed  in  1892  was  still  possible  as  far  as  the  Repub- 
lic was  concerned,  but  still  impossible  for  any  Canadian  Gov- 
ernment to  consider.  During  1898  a  further  stage  in  the 
development  of  the  Dominion  away  from  the  United  States 
and  toward  Great  Britain  was  marked  by  the  establishment 
of  the  Preferential  tariff  by  which  British  goods  were  allowed 
admission  at  a  rate  of  25  per  cent  lower  than  foreign  prod- 
ucts. The  general  elections  which  took  place  on  November 
Y,  1900,  and  resulted  in  the  return  of  the  Laurier  Govern- 
ment to  power,  were  fought  with  hardly  a  reference  on  either 
side  to  the  once  all-important  Reciprocity  idea  and  with  a 


! 


; 


406 


THE   STORY   OF   THE  DOMINION 


m- 


tacit  admission  on  both  sides  that  a  maintenance  of  the  print 
ciple  of  protection  was  ossential  to  the  present  state  of  Cana- 
dian development. 


,      CHAPTER  XXVI 

MANITOBA  AND  THE  BCBOOL  QUEBTIOV 

THE  story  of  Manitoba's  progress  during  the  years  which 
succeeded  the  Fort  Garry  rising  and  the  admission  of 
the  youthful  Province  into  Confederation  on  July  15, 
1870,  is  an  oft-told  tale  to  Canadians.  The  slow  groAvth,  at 
first,  of  the  little  town  at  the  junction  of  the  Red  River  and 
Assiniboine  which  took  the  place  of  the  Fort  around  which  such 
severe  struggles  against  nature,  and  among  men,  had  raged 
since  the  days  of  Selkirk ;  the  coming  of  the  Canadian  Pacific 
Railway  and  the  rapid  rise  of  Winnipeg  into  a  city  of  40,000 
people ;  the  steady  accretion  of  farmers  in  the  vast  and  fer- 
tile prairies  stretching  away  beyond  the  distant  horizon ;  the 
phenomenal  "boom,"  typical  in  its  inception  and  progress  of 
all  western  periods  of  expansion,  which  came  to  Manitoba  in 
1879  and  1880,  and  merged  the  solid  investments  of  thou- 
sands of  Ontario  business  men  in  fantastic  land  schemes  and 
non-existent  prairie  villages  of  which  surveys  had  often  not 
been  made;  the  reaction  which  followed  and  the  slow  but 
steady  and  substantial  progress  which,  in  time,  came  to  the 
Province ;  these  things  are  pretty  well  known  to  the  people 
of  to-day. 

NOVEI.  CONDITIONS  ON  THE  FEONTIEE 

Less  clearly  is  the  political  condition  of  the  country  known, 
or  the  wild  and  free  spirit,  drawn  from  the  experiences  of  a 
pioneer  life  which  had  not  been  brought  into  close  touch 
with  civilization,  fully  understood.  The  ox-cart,  even  now, 
touches  the  electric  street  car  or  the  luxurious  coach  of  the 
modern  railway.  The  fringed  and  faded  Indian  rubs  shoul- 
der with  the  white  farmer  and  the  commercial  traveler  for 


rr 


MANITOBA   AND   THE  SCHOOL   QUESTION 


407 


some  Eastern  firm.  The  unsettled  and  nomadic  Half-breed 
hunter  looks  across  the  table  of  his  hotel  at  the  latest  tourist 
from  Piccadilly  or  habitue  of  Hyde  Park.  The  forts  of  the 
Hudson's  Bay  Company  still  stand  in  occasional  loneliness, 
but  are  more  and  more  coming  into  contact  witli  farm-houses 
of  prosperous  settlers,  or  face  to  face  with  the  growing  vil- 
lages of  an  increasing  population.  The  buifalo  has  gone, 
but  his  bones  are  yet  picked  up  on  the  boundless  prairie  and 
sold  by  dirty-looking  squaws  on  the  clean  platforms  of  a 
continental  railway. 

CHANGES  IN  MANITOBA 

The  white  people  of  Manitoba  have  themselves  greatly 
changed  since  the  stormy  days  of  1870.  The  pion('<  »•  life 
of  farmers  who  have  drifted  in  by  tens,  and  hundred>  nd 
thousands,  to  till  the  rich  and  easy  soil  of  the  prairie  i  as 
been  one  of  inevitable  hardship  at  times,  and  especiaL^  o 
in  seasons  of  unseasonable  frost,  or  occasional  flood,  or  un- 
welcome drought.  They  have  encountered  serious  discour- 
agement from  a  severe  climate,  not  at  first  understood,  and 
they  have  often  suffered  from  intense  solitude  and  hard  labor, 
while  dangers  from  cold  and  storm  have  not  been  few.  But 
all  these  things  were  really  nothing  to  the  perils  of  the 
French  or  Loyalist  pioneers  of  Eastern  Canada  from  wild 
animals  or  wilder  Indians;  and,  whatever  they  may  have 
been,  the  conditions  have  now. been  conquered  and  out  of 
them  has  come  a  people  delighting  in  the  life  of  the  prairie 
and  the  cold  of  its  winters,  loving  the  fresh  and  fragrant 
air  of  their  1  oalthful  Province,  instinct  with  western  vigor 
and  progressiveness,  and  pulsating  with  strong  belief  in  its 
future  progress. 

Of  a  kind  with  the  complexities  of  general  development 
lias  been  the  political  record  of  Manitoba  and  out  of  it  came 
a  problem  which  was  destined  to  shake  the  parties  and  prin- 
ciples of  Canadian  public  life  to  their  very  roots.  For  many 
years  the  local  politics  were  of  a  purely  parish  nature,  and 
government  consisted  in  legislating  for  schools  scattered  over 


i\ 


1 


408 


THE   STORY    OF    THE   DOMINION 


a  large  area  among  isolated  settlers,  providing  the  beginnings 
of  municipal  life,  practicing  the  forms  of  constitutionalism, 
and  guarding  the  interests  of  the  small  though  growing 
population  of  farmers.  Alfred  Boyd,  M.  A.  Girard,  H.  J. 
H.  Clarke,  R.  A.  Davis,  and  John  Norquay  succeeded  each 
other  as  Prime  Minister.  Then  came  the  era  of  railway 
construction,  the  boon  proffered  by  Eastern  Canada  to  its 
Provincial  sisters  in  the  West.  "With  the  Canadian  Pacific 
came  also  questions  of  monopoly,  of  the  right  to  control  com- 
petitive lines,  of  the  necessity  of  competition  and  control  of 
rates,  of  the  location  of  branch  lines  and  all  the  complica- 
tions incident  to  a  time  of  public  expansion  and  the  sudden 
growth  of  transportation  interests.  These  problems  have  all 
been  settled,  or  are  now  settling  themselves,  in  one  form  or 
another.  There  has,  at  times,  been  friction  between  the 
Provincial  Government  and  the  Dominion  authorities;  but 
never  violent  trouble,  except,  perhaps,  in  the  matter  of  the 
Red  River  Railway.  ■      ' 

Three  or  four  men  have  developed  in  the  public  life  of 
the  Province  who  may,  in  diverse  ways,  be  described  as  re- 
markable characters.  Ll^rchbishop  Tache  was  a  pioneer  of 
religious  progress,  a  man  of  intense  missionary  zeal,  of  strenu- 
ous labor  for  the  cause  of  his  Church,  of  wide  and  powerful 
public  influence.  From  the  day,  in  1845,  when  he  started 
by  boat,  or  ox-team,  for  the  far-away  banks  of  the  Red 
River,  he  traversed  every  part  of  the  vast  field  of  the  North- 
West  and  in  varied  degrees  of  hardship  and  toil  established 
Roman  Catholicism  as  one  of  the  chief  religious  features  of 
the  new  country.  He  became  a  Bishop  in  1850,  received 
the  higher  honor  in  1871,  and  died  in  1894.  With  the  pub- 
lic questions  of  the  day  in  the  growing  Province  he  was 
closely  associated,  from  the  share  he  took  as  m.ediator  in 
the  Riel  rising  of  1870,  and  his  place  in  the  conflict  and 
controversy  created  by  the  same  irrepressible  personage  in 
1885,  to  the  forcible  position  assumed  by  him  in  the  Manitoba 
School  question  of  1890. 

Archbishop  Machray  has  held  a  very  similar  place  in  the 


mr^k 


beginnings 
utionalism, 
h  growing 
rard,  H.  J. 
leeded  each 

of  railway 
nada  to  its 
iian  Pacific 
jontrol  com- 
i  control  of 
le  complica- 

the  sudden 
3ms  liave  all 
one  form  or 
between  the 
lorities;  but 
latter  of  the 

ublic  life  of 
cribed  as  re- 
1  pioneer  of 
al,  of  strenu- 
ind  powerful 
m  he  started 
of  the  Red 
)f  the  North- 
1  established 
s  features  of 
50,  received 
nth  the  pub- 
nnce  he  was 
m.ediator  in 
conflict  and 
personage  in 
the  Manitoba 

place  in  the 


MANITOBA   AND    THE   SCHOOL    QUESTION 


409 


pioneer  history  of  the  Church  of  England  in  the  North- 
West  from  the  time  of  his  consecration,  in  1865,  to  the  pres- 
ent day.  His  intense  personal  energy  and  earnest  piety  have 
made  a  deep  impression  upon  its  people  and  denominational 
and  educational  progress.  He  has  not,  however,  been  nearly 
so  striking  u  political  figure  as  his  great  ecclesiastical  and 
religious  rival.  A  curious  contrast  to  both  these  men  was 
the  Hon.  John  Norquay.  A  Half-breed  by  birth,  he  im- 
pressed his  virile,  forceful  disposition  upon  the  politics  and 
progress  of  Manitoba,  became  its  Prime  Minister  in  what 
may  be  termed  the  growing  time  of  Provincial  youth,  and  re- 
mained in  power  from  1878  to  1887.  His  moderation  of 
view  won  him  respect  and  popularity,  as  a  young  man,  in  the 
troubles  of  1869-70,  and  the  same  qualities  served  him  well 
in  later  years;  while  his  huge,  uncouth  frame  and  curious 
personality  and  strange  manners  made  him  a  unique  figure 
in  general  politics.  After  a  brief  interregnum  filled  by  the 
Premiership  of  D.  H.  Harrison,  he  was  succeeded,  in  1888, 
by  the  Hon.  Thomas  Greenway — a  farmer  by  profession,  a 
Liberal  in  politics,  and  in  no  way  remarkable  personally, 
except  for  the  fact  that  he  held  ofiice  from  that  time  until  the 
end  of  the  century. 

The  extraordinary  personal  feature  of  his  Administration, 
however,  and  the  most  unique  product  of  Canadian  western 
politics,  was  the  Hon.  Joseph  Martin,  who  acted  as  Attorney- 
General  from  1887  to  1891.  A  Radical  in  politics,  he  had  a 
rough,  uneducated  personality,  and  was  gifted  with  tremen- 
dous vigor  in  speech  and  pluck  in  action,  combined  with  a 
perfect  passion  for  political  fighting.  Absence  of  actual  and 
defined  principles  made  him,  in  practice,  a  demagogue ;  while 
his  ratupal  ability  rendered  him  an  acute  antagonist  and  a 
useful,  though  untrustworthy,  ally.  After  he  had  won  an 
election  for  Greenway  by  the  abolition  of  Separate  Schools  in 
Manitoba,  and  laid,  incidentally,  a  line  of  dynamite  for  the 
destruction  of  the  Conservative  Government  at  Ottawa,  he 
moved  to  British  Columbia.  There  he  served  a  short  term 
of  ofiice  as  Attorney-General,  suddenly  resigned  the  position 

DOMINION— 18 


!  L- 

'  IP 

I  I: 


i  9' 


I 


iiiO 


THE   STORY   OF   THE   DOMINION 


n 


1 1 


■/(i 


.V   i   1 


n 


and  overthrew  the  Government  he  had  belonged  to,  formed 
another,  and,  in  1900,  was  badly  beaten  at  the  polls.  His 
career  is  of  interest  as  revealing  a  l;ype  of  politician  which 
only  Western  communities  in  a  crude  state  of  development 
could  create  or  tolerate.  A  much  more  attractive  character 
was  that  of  Sir  John  Christian  Schultz.  A  pioneer  in  the 
fur  trade,  in  tlie  practice  of  medicine  and  in  political  devel- 
opment, he  shared  the  ups  and  downs  of  Manitoba  life  to  the 
uttermost  and  served  several  terms  in  the  Dominion  House 
of  Commons,  had  held  a  place  in  the  Senate,  and  had  acted 
for  seven  years  as  the  Lieutenant-Governor  of  his  Province. 

THE  INFLATIQjSr  OF   1880 

The  central  incidents  of  modern  Manitoba  history  are  the 
"inflation"  of  1880  and  the  School  question.  The  former 
was  a  condition  of  affairs  only  possible  in  a  very  new  country, 
during  the  prevalence  of  what  are  called  good  times,  i*nd 
through  a  b  idden  increase  of  land  values  arising  from  some 
such  cause  as  the  proposed  construction  of  the  Canadian  Pa- 
cific Railway.  Visions  of  a  great  and  growing  Province  be- 
yond anything  that  was  reasonable  and  possible  seemed,  in 
1880,  to  be  born  in  a  night  out  of  long-continued  indifference 
and  ignorance.  People  who  had  known  nothing  of,  and 
cared  less  for,  the  vast  possibilities  of  the  wheat-belt  of  the 
West  seemed  suddenly  and  fully  conscious  of  its  existence 
and  of  what  might  be  done  by  the  building  of  a  railway 
through  its  fertile  areas.  Aladdin's  lamp  was  to  be  as  noth- 
ing in  comparison  with  the  effect  of  this  factor  in  Provincial 
development.  Population,  wheat-fields,  cities  and  towns,  in- 
dustries and  wealth,  presented  themselves  before  the  eyes  of 
the  investing  public.  The  "boom"  that  followed  -was  of  a 
most  distinctly  American  type.  The  price  of  building  lots 
in  Winnipv^g  rose  above  the  value  of  land  centrally  located  in 
Montreal  or  Toronto.  All  kinds  of  land  schemes  were  floated 
in  the  other  Provinces  as  well  as  in  the  local  capital.  Towns 
and  cities  grew  up  (on  paper)  as  by  magic,  and  thousands  of 
people  in  Ontario,  especially,  sold  solid  securities  and  took 


i: 


MANITOBA   AND   THE  SCHOOL   QUESTION  411 

over  all  their  little  savings,  or  even  mortgaged  salaries  and 
properties,  in  order  to  invest  them  in  prairie  village  lots,  of 
which  a  first  survey  had  hardly  been  made. 
V  The  result  was  a  natural  and  inevitable  one.  For  a  time 
everything  prospered,  and  every  kind  of  public  enterprise 
went  ahead.  Population  did  increase  a  little,  and  money 
poured  into  the  country  for  investment.  Land  values  rose 
all  over  the  southern  part  of  the  Province.  But,  in  the  au- 
tumn of  1882  the  end  came,  the  bubble  of  inflation  broke,  and 
millionaires  in  prospect  found  themselves  paupers  in  fact. 
A  great  part  of  the  small  community  became  insolvent,  the 
banks  lost  heavily,  investors  in  Ontario  and  elsewhere  suf- 
fered severely,  and  Manitoba  was  given  a  serious  set-back. 
Then  came  the  troubles  of  1885,  on  the  Saskatchewan,  which 
reacted  upon  the  Prairie  Province  in  reputation  and  credit 
and  helped  further  to  hamper  the  progress  of  settlement. 
Gradually,  however,  these  difficulties  were  overcoms ;  steadily 
the  richness  of  its  soil  and  the  qualities  of  its  wheat  made 
headway  in  the  public  mind  of  the  Dominion;  slowly  and 
surely  the  completion  of  the  Canadian  Pacific  promoted  its 
prosperity  by  making  the  Province  known  abroad,  by  bring- 
ing in  new  settlers,  by  facilitating  the  transport  of  products, 
by  bringing  it  into  the  arena  of  national  interests  and  prog- 
ress,   .'.t;  ,-i:-    •      >   '.■'!'■   i  -    >    ■ 


OEIGIN  OF  THE  MANITOBA  SCHOOL   QUESTION 


^1  I; 


took 


Then  came  the  Manitoba  School  question.  At  first  it  was 
largely  a  Provincial  issue.  It  soon  developed,  however,  into 
a  sort  of  Dominion  irritant.  Finally  it  became  a  political 
storm  of  the  most  pronounced  seriousness,  and  one  which 
threatened  public  peace  as  only  a  semi-religious  question  can 
do  in  a  country  such  as  Canada.  There  have  been  frequent 
struggles  over  sectarian  education  in  the  Provinces  of  British 
America.  Prior  to  1863,  Ontario  was  torn  with  dissensions 
upon  this  point,  and  the  Hon.  George  Brown  had  led  a  stormy 
agitation  against  Separate  Roman  Catholic  Schools.  Con- 
federation settled  the  issue  to  some  extent  through  a  com- 


I 


412 


THE  STORY  OF  THE  DOMINION   >M' 


promise,  by  which  the  Protestant  minority  in  Quebec  and 
the  Catholic  minority  in  Ontario  were  guaranteed  a  secure 
system  of  Separate  Schools.  It  was  reopened  for  a  time, 
in  the  latter  Province,  by  alleged  new  and  increasing  privi- 
leges to  these  schools  at  the  hands  of  the  Mowat  Government, 
and,  during  some  years,  Mr.  W.  R.  Meredith  and  Mr.  D'Al- 
ton  McCarthy  took  high  ground  in  the  matter.  But  the  agi- 
tation came  to  nothing.  In  New  Brunswick,  the  abolition  of 
Separate  Schools,  not  long  after  Confederation,  raised  a 
question  which  politicians  wisely  refused  to  make  serious 
capital  out  of,  and  which  the  Courts  finally  disposed  of  by 
declaring  the  action  legal.  i  s 

In  Manitoba  the  situation  has  been  very  different  and  the 
result  much  more  important  and  interesting.  The  system 
in  vogue  there  was  not  the  same  as  elsewhere  in  Canada ;  the 
Province  did  not,  in  this  respect,  enter  the  Dominion  upon 
the  same  terms  as  the  older  parts  of  the  country;  its  cir- 
cumstances and  local  conditions  have  changed  more  rapidly 
and  completely  than  anywhere  else.  In  1870,  when  the 
country  came  into  Confederation,  its  small  ix)pulation  was 
about  equally  divided  between  Protestants  and  Catholics, 
and,  as  a  large  influx  of  Prench-Canadian  settlers  was  then 
confidently  expected,  it  was  generally  believed  that  this  bal- 
ance would  be  fairly  well  preserved.  There  is  practically  no 
question  that  the  Red  River  people  of  that  time  and  of  the 
Catholic  faith  thought  that  their  religious  and  educational 
customs — they  could  hardly  be  termed  a  system — would  be 

conserved.  v>.;  ^  ■;.--;' ?-;:.<■-•    r(.       ,•:•;■•,   -it'"-;   •     •■  ;    T  v:^^.^'-5^,t 

As  a  matter  of  fact,  when  authority  was  given  to  the  new 
Legislature,  by  the  Manitoba  Act  of  1870,  to  deal  with  edu- 
cation, it  was  done,  as  in  all  tlie  Provinces,  subject  to  the 
preservation  of  rights  existing  at  the  time  of  the  Union; 
although  no  law,  ordinance,  or  regulation  was  technically  in 
force  in  the  much-troubled  Red  River  Settlement  of  the  mo- 
ment. The  controversy  of  the  future  was  to  turn,  therefore, 
upon  how  far  the  "practice^'  then  prevalent  was  a  privilege 
and  right  under  the  terms  of  Union.      Archbishop  Tache, 


MANITOBA   AND    THE  SCHOOL   QUESTION  418 

who  was  present  at  the  birth  of  educational  facilities  in  the 
North-West,  and  who  for  so  long  rocked  the  cradle  of  their 
early  development,  declared  with  emphasis  at  a  later  period 
that  there  had  been,  in  1870,  a  number  of  effective  schools 
for  children,  and  that  some  of  these  were  regulated  and  con- 
trolled by  his  own  Church,  some  by  different  Protestant  de- 
nominations. The  means  required  for  the  support  of  the 
Catholic  portion  of  the  schools  were  supplied  partly  by  fees 
and  partly  out  of  Church  funds.  During  this  early  period 
neither  Catholics  nor  Protestants  bad  interest  in,  or  control 
over,  any  schools  but  those  pertaining  to  their  respective 
beliefs. 

In  1871,  shortly  after  joining  the  Dominion,  a  law  was 
passed  by  the  Manitoban  Legislature  which  established  an 
organized  system  of  denominational  education  in  what  were 
called  the  common  schools.  By  this  Act,  twelve  electoral  di- 
visions, comprising  in  the  main  a  Protestant  population,  were 
to  be  considered  as  constituting  twelve  Protestant  school  dis- 
tricts imder  the  management  of  the  Protestant  Section  of  a 
Provincial  Board  of  Education.  Similarly,  twelve  districts, 
made  up  chiefly  of  a  Roman  Catholic  population,  were  con- 
stituted an  equal  number  of  Catholic  school  districts,  and 
were  placed  under  the  control  of  the  Catholic  Section  of  the 
Board  of  Education.  Each  school  division  raised  the  con- 
tribution required,  in  addition  to  the  amount  given  from  the 
public  funds,  in  such  manner  as  might  be  decided  at  its  an- 
nual meeting.  It  was,  at  first  and  in  some  respects,  an  appli- 
cation of  the  Quebec  system  to  a  new  Province.  But  the 
conditions  were,  of  course,  greatly  different,  and  that  differ- 
ence increased  radically  as  the  Protestant  part  of  the  popula- 
tion grew  in  numbers.  Modifications  in  the  system  were 
introduced  in  1873  and  1876  suited  to  changed  and  changing 
conditions,  but  the  general  principle  was  still  maintained. 
Nor  did  the  system,  as  a  whole,  work  badly  or  cause  any  se- 
rious friction,  in  these  years,  between  the  different  religious 
elements  of  the  people. 

Some  agitation  had  arisen  in  1876  owing  to  the  gradual 


I 


I 


Hi-   •' 

•ii 

"^m 


414 


THE  STORY   OF   THE  DOMINION 


growth  of  villages  and  towns  and  the  general  increase  of  what 
might  be  termed,  somewhat  tentatively,  an  urban  population. 
But  it  was  settled  by  the  amendments  of  that  year  which  gave 
the  school  districts  facilities  for  the  issue  of  debentures  and 
the  erection  of  suitable  buildings.  The  Provincial  Board 
was  also  reconstituted  in  a  satisfactory  manner.  For  years 
after  this  time  matters  progressed  without  sectarian  trouble 
until,  in  1890,  there  were  628  Protestant  schools  and  91 
Catholic  schools  in  the  Province — the  Government  grant  still 
being  divided  proportionally  between  the  two  sections  of  the 
Education  Board.  Meanwhile,  however,  sectarian  feeling 
had  been  growing  in  Quebec  and  Ontario  and  been  fanned 
into  a  passing  flame  by  the  development  in  public  life  of  such 
men  of  opposite  and  varied  characteristics  as  Mercier  and 
McCarthy,  Laurier  and  Meredith.  The  ebb-tide  of  the  Riel 
and  Jesuits  Estates  questions  reached  Manitoba,  the  instinct 
of  the  demagogic  politician  seized  the  mind  of  Mr.  Joseph 
Martin,  and  a  favorable  and  popular  moment  was  taken,  in 
the  Session  of  1890,  to  abolish  the  existing  Separate  School 
system.  -r'j 

The  principle  of  National  and  unsectarian  schools  is  a 
most  desirable  one  where  it  can  be  put  in  force  without  actual 
injustice  to  those  who  disagree  with  it.  But  the  incidents 
surrounding  this  particular  action  of  the  Greenway-Martin 
Government  were  unpleasant  and  aggressive  and  the  legisla- 
tion itself  assumed  to  the  minority  the  aspect  of  a  repudiation 
of  Provincial  and  Dominion  pledges.  The  protests  of  the 
Roman  Catholic  Church  in  Manitoba,  however,  and  the  ener- 
getic onslaughts  of  Archbishop  Tache  upon  the  Government, 
in  a  series  of  historical  letters  published  in  the  Winnipeg 
"Free  Press,"  were  serious  enough  in  their  effect  upon  the 
Catholic  population  elsewhere  in  Canada  to  soon  raise  the 
question  far  above  the  local  arena.  At  the  same  time  the  mi- 
nority had  not  sufficient  local  strength  to  overcome  the  large 
Protestant  majority  or  to  prevent  Mr.  Green  way  from  ob- 
taining a  popular  victory  and  endorsation  in  the  ensuing 
elections  of  1892. 


T 


MANITOBA  AND    THE   SCHOOL    QUESTION 


416 


Under  the  new  Public  School  system  the  Board  of  Edu- 
cation was,  of  course,  completely  changed,  and  all  school 
taxes,  whether  derived  from  Protestant  or  Catholic,  were 
devoted  to  the  maintenance  of  the  schools  of  the  Province 
without  any  religious  distinction.  The  Provincial  Cabinet 
became  the  Board  of  Education,  assisted  by  an  Advisory 
Board  made  up  of  four  or  six  members  appointed  by  the  Gov- 
ernment, two  elected  by  the  teachers  of  the  Province,  and  one 
selected  by  the  University  of  Manitoba.  The  Department,  or 
Government,  was  to  perform  all  Executive  work  in  connection 
with  education ;  the  Advisory  Board  was  really  to  be  a  Com- 
m.Htee  of  experts  controlling  all  matters  of  a  technical  nature, 
such  as  teachers'  qualifications,  text-bookj?,  standards  of  ad- 
mission, and  promotion  in  the  schools,  classification  examina- 
tions, and  the  forms  of  religious  exercise.  Local  districts, 
with  trustees  chosen  by  popular  vote,  were  established.  Upon 
the  whole  this  system  has  since  then  worked  well,  the  stand- 
ard of  education  generally  has  advanced,  the  number  of 
schools  has  increased  to  1,018  in  1897,  and  the  Provincial 
grant  has  risen  to  $190,000.       V-;     -.vL;    ?    ir    ,r    *    *v  j 

But  to  the  Roman  Catholics  both  the  legislation  and  system 
were  extremely  obnoxious.  They  believed  there,  as  in  Que- 
bec and  Ontario,  in  sending  their  children  to  a  school  where 
religion  was  a  first  consideration,  secular  education  a  sec- 
ondary matter.  They  objected  to  the  I'rotestant  religious 
exercises,  no  matter  how  deleted  they  might  be,  and  wanted 
schools  of  their  own.  These  they  proceeded  to  maintain  by 
private  contributions  and  despite  the  fact  of  having  to  pay 
double  educational  taxes.  Naturally,  the  question  was  soon 
being  widely  discussed  and  considered  in  other  Provinces 
where  Catholics  also  had  rights  and  privileges  which  they 
believed  to  be  guaranteed  by  the  pact  of  Confederation.     

..         '  THE    SCHOOL    ACT    IN    DOMINION    POLITICS  ■' 

The  first  step  taken  in  the  matter,  in  a  Dominion  sense, 
was  a  strenuous  effort  to  obtain  the  disallowance  of  the  Act 
as  an  infringement  of  the  rights  of  a  Provincial  minority. 


11     Ml 


!K 


41 


THE  STORY   OF   THE  DOMINION 


A  i  jtition,  dated  March  6,  1891,  was  presented  to  the  Fed- 
eral Government  signed  by  the  Roman  Catholic  Archbishops 
and  Bishops  of  the  Dominion  and  declaring  that  the  Mani- 
toba School  Act — and  the  subsidiary  measure  abolishing  dual 
language  privileges  in  the  same  Legislature — were  "contrary 
to  the  dearest  interests"  of  a  large  portion  of  the  Queen's 
loyal  subjects;  contrary  to  "the  assurances  given  during  the 
negotiations"  which  determined  the  entry  of  the  Province  of 
Manitoba  into  Confederation;  contrary  to  the  terms  of  the 
British  North  America  and  Manitoba  Act;  contrary  to  the 
principles  of  public  good  faith. 

. '  A  little  later,  on  April  4th,  the  French  press  of  Quebec 
published  a  pastoral  letter  issued  by  Cardinal  Taschereau 
and  the  hierarchy  of  the  Province  and  which  had  been  read 
in  all  the  Catholic  churches.  It  declared  that  the  legislation 
in  question  would  'destroy  the  faith  of  the  Catholic  chil- 
dren" of  Manitoba  and  would  "despoil  the  Church  of  her 
sacred  rights."  It  urged  once  more  "the  control  of  the  Church 
over  the  education  of  Catholic  children"  in  the  schools,  and 
called  upon  all  Catholics  "to  pray  and  to  work  for  justice." 
Following,  however,  the  precedent  which  they  had  set  them- 
selves in  the  Jesuits  Estates  case,  the  Government  resisted 
this  religious  pressure,  and  the  even  more  potent  political 
pressure  which  was  a  natural  accompaniment,  refused  to  in- 
terfere with  the  Provincial  legislation  in  the  matter  and  al- 
lowed the  two  measures  to  go  into  operation.  In  connection 
with  the  School  Act,  Sir  John  Thompson,  as  Minist'^r  of  Jus- 
tice, submitted  a  Report  to  the  Government  advising  the  al- 
lowance of  the  measure  in  due  course.  It  was  dated  March 
21,  1891,  and  afterward  became  the  cause  of  keen  controversy 
and  important  results.  He  reviewed  the  powers  of  the  Pro- 
vincial Legislature  and  declared  that  the  matter  should  be 
left  to  the  Courts.  If,  finally,  the  minority  in  Manitoba  were 
worsted  in  the  legal  warfare  the  time  might  come  for  the 
Dominion  Government  to  interfere  under  the  terms  of  that 
portion  of  Section  22  of  the  Manitoba  Act  which  declares 
that  "an  appeal  shall  be  to  the  Governor-General-in-Council 


t   m\ 


MANITOBA   AND    THE  SCHOOL    QUESTION 


417 


j> 


to  m- 
id  al- 
bction 
Jus- 
le  al- 
Larch 
keTsy 
Pro- 
ild  be 
were 
)r  the 
If  that 
Lclares 
louncil 


from  any  Act  or  decision  of  the  Legislature  of  the  Province, 
or  of  any  Provisional  authority  affecting  any  right  or  privi- 
lege of  the  Protestant  or  Roman  Catholic  minority  of  the 
Queen's  subjects,  in  relation  to  education.  Parliament  may 
make  remedial  laws  for  the  due  execution  of  the  provisions 
of  this  Section  and  of  any  decision  of  the  Governor-General- 
in-Council." 

Meanwhile,  local  efforts  along  the  legal  line,  had  been 
strenuous.  An  appeal  was  early  entered  in  the  Manitoba 
Courts  by  Mr.  J.  K.  Barrett,  on  behalf  of  the  Catholic  rate- 
payers of  Winnipeg,  against  two  City  by-laws  which  imposed 
a  rate  of  taxation  upon  men  of  all  religious  faiths  for  the 
support  of  the  public  schools.  In  this  test  case  it  was  claimed 
that  the  old  law  was  still  in  force  owing  to  the  new  one  being 
unconstitutional  and  because  of  the  22d  Section  of  the  Mani- 
toba Act,  under  which  the  Province  entered  the  Dominion, 
and  which  declares  that  "nothing  in  any  such  law  (Provin- 
cial) shall  prejudicially  affect  any  right  or  privilege  with  re- 
spect to  denominational  schools  which  any  class  of  persons 
have  by  law  or  practice  in  the  Provinces  at  the  Union."  The 
Manitoba  Government  maintained,  as  against  this  plea,  that 
a  Separate  School  system  was  not  really  in  existence  at  that 
time  and  that,  therefore,  the  Roman  Catholic  minority  pos- 
sessed no  guarantee  whatever.  On  February  22,  1891,  the 
Court  of  Queen's  Bench  of  the  Province  sustained  the  va- 
lidity of  the  Act,  three  Judges  being  favorable  and  one  op- 
posed— the  latter  a  French  Canadian  and  Catholic.  Appeal 
was  at  once  taken  to  the  Supreme  Court  of  Canada,  and,  in 
October  following,  judg-ment  was  given  by  that  body  declaring 
the  Act  ultra  vires,  allowing  the  appeal  and  quashing  the 
City  by-laws.  The  decision  was  unanimous,  and  Chief  Jus- 
tice Sir  William  Ritchie,  in  presenting  it,  held  that  the  Act 
of  Union  prohibited  the  abolition  of  Separate  Schools  by 
Provincial  Legislatures. 

There  was,  of  course,  much  excitement  in  Winnipeg  over 
the  result  and  the  Greenway  Government  at  once  announced 
its  intention  of  carrying  the  case  to  the  Judicial  Committee 


ii 
,1 


P 


'I' 


i 


2'HE   STORY   OF   THE   DOMINION    hM. 


of  the  Imperial  Privy  Council.  Late  in  July,  1892,  the  de- 
cision of  the  highest  Court  of  Appeal  in  the  Empire  was 
duly  rendered.  It  upheld  the  Manitoba  Courts,  declared  the 
legality  of  the  Act  of  1890,  and  removed  the  judgment  of  the 
Canadian  Supreme  Court.  An  agitation  immediately  began 
for  an  appeal  to  the  Government  for  remedial  legislation  and 
Dominion  interference.  This  was  the  actual  commencement 
of  the  sto^-m  which  was  to  rage  during  four  years  and  to 
eventually  shatter  the  Conservative  Government  at  Ottawa  be- 
tween the  two  rival  forces  of  Catholic  and  Protestant  senti- 
ment. Sir  John  Thompson's^  Report  of  1891  became  the 
centre  of  intense  discussion,  and  Section  22  of  the  Manitoba 
Act  a  subject  of  Dominion  policy  and  politics.  Strong  lan- 
guage was  usod  on  both  sides  in  connection  with  the  possi- 
bility of  the  Government  at  Ottawa  interfering  in  the  matter. 
The  Liberal  organs  and  speakers  in  Ontario  demanded  respect 
for  Provincial  rights  and  proclaimed  Sir  John  Thompson  a 
slave  to  the  interests  and  influence  of  his  Church.  The  To- 
ronto "Mail,"  while  still  a  nominally  independent  paper 
— though  bitterly  opposed  to  the  Conservative  Government  in 
reality — declared  that  "the  tribunal  of  last  resort  has  pro- 
nounced Manitoba  free ;  and  free  that  Province  shall  be  if 
the  English  population  has  any  voice  in  the  Government  of 
this  country."  Mr.  Mercier,  who  was  still  striving  to  regain 
his  lost  place  and  power  in  Quebec,  tried  to  inflame  religious 
sentiment  for  his  own  ends,  and,  at  Montreal,  on  February 
23,  1893,  urged  the  people  of  the  Province  to  "put  aside  all 
the  divisions  and  hatreds  of  the  past  and  join  in  a  fraternal 
union  of  2,000,000  of  French  Canadians  against  the  oppres- 
sion of  the  other  Provinces."  :•;.  ?  ^>i;s  uv  ^?;  n<V) 
While  all  these  sounds  of  strife  were  in  the  air  the  Gov- 
ernment had  appointed  a  Sub-Committee  of  their  own  mem- 
bers, composed  of  Sir  John  Thompson,  the  Hon.  Mackenzie 
Bowell,  and  the  Hon.  J.  A.  Chapleau,  to  hear  the  appeals 
from  the  Manitoba  minority  and  to  listen  to  Mr.  J.  S.  Ewart, 
Q.  C,  of  Winnipeg,  on  behalf  of  the  petitioners.  Mr.  Ewart 
and  Mr.  D' Alton  McCarthy  presented  the  opposite  sides  of 


I 


MANITOBA  AND    THE  SCHOOL   QUESTION 


419 


Gov- 
lem- 
tenzie 
tpeals 
Pwart, 
Cwart 
le8  of 


tho  case  with  a  good  deal  of  strength  and  skill,  and,  on  Janu- 
ary 6,  1893,  the  Sub-Committee  submitted  a  synopsis  of  the 
discussion  to  the  Dominion  Government  and  recommended 
that  another  hearing  should  be  given  in  which  the  Manitoba 
Cabinet  might  be  represented.  The  latter  Government  re- 
fused, however,  to  consider  the  question  as  in  any  way  an 
open  ope,  or  to  send  any  representative.  The  Report  also 
indicated  certain  points  for  consideration  in  the  question  as 
to  whether  the  Governor-General-in-Council  really  had  the 
power  to  grant  remedial  legislation  under  existing  conditions 
and  these  subjects  were  subsequently  brought  before  the  Su- 
preme Court  of  Canada  in  the  form  of  six  questions  of  a 
constitutional  character.  r         •  ^     -• 

They  were  dealt  with  on  February  26,  1894,  by  a  judg- 
ment of  interpretation  which  held  that  the  Roman  Catholio 
minority  had  no  ground  upon  which  to  solicit  Dominion  legis- 
lation. The  Court  stood  three  to  two  upon  the  question, 
and,  curiously  enough,  Mr.  Justice  King,  who,  as  Premier 
of  New  Brunswick,  had  many  years  before  been  instrumental 
in  abolishing  the  Separate  Schools  of  that  Province,  sup- 
ported the  Catholic  contention,  while  Mr.  Justice  Tasche- 
reau,  a  French  Canadian,  opposed  the  claims  of  his  own 
co-religionists.  From  this  decision  an  appeal  was  taken  to 
the  Imperial  Privy  Council,  and,  in  January,  1895,  a  deci- 
sion was  announced  declaring  that  the  Dominion  Govern- 
ment, under  the  Confederation  Act,  possessed  the  right  to 
grant  the  remedial  legislation  which  had  been  described  as 
constitutional  and  possible  in  the  Report  of  the  Minister  of 
Justice  in  1891. 

That  distinguished  lawyer  and  statesman  had,  meanwhile, 
become  Premier  of  Canada  in  December,  1892,  and  had  died 
suddenly  and  tragically,  at  Windsor  Castle,  in  December, 
1894.  Sir  Mackenzie  Bowell  ruled  in  his  place,  and  there 
was  much  trouble  and  perplexity  in  the  Government  upon 
the  School  Question.  Parliament  and  the  press  were  also 
'ilgorously  discussing  the  question  and  the  possible  results 
of  the  coming  decision.     An  interesting  debate  had  taken 


Ji. 


m 


.1.  .i 


420 


THE   STORY    OF   THE    DOMINION 


place  in  the  House  on  March  6,  1893,  when  this  second  ref- 
erence to  the  Privy  Council  was  announced  and  Mr.  J.  Israel 
Tarte  had  proposed  a  motion  disapproving  the  action  of  the 
Government.  Sir  John  Thompson,  in  an  able  and  elaborate 
speech,  defended  the  policy  from  a  constitutional  standpoint, 
and  Mr.  D'Alton  McCarthy,  who  represented,  probably,  at 
this  time  a  very  large  body  of  p  opinion,  answered  the 

Minister  with  force  and  vigor,  i  denounced  the  Govern- 
ment for  its  delay  in  settling  a  vexed  question.  The  decision 
one  way  or  the  other  was  vital.  "It  was  whether  the  Prov- 
ince of  Manitoba,  with  a  population  of  150,000,  of  whom  not 
more  than  20,000  were  Roman  Catholics,  was  to  have  im- 
posed upon  it  against  its  will  a  Separate  School  system." 
Mr.  Wilfrid  Laurier,  in  the  course  of  a  denunciatory  speech 
along  general  lines,  made  some  remarks  which  afford  inter- 
esting reading  a  few  years  later  and  were  uttered  in  connec- 
tion with  the  charge  that  the  limited  religious  teaching  in  the 
schools  of  Manitoba  made  them  really  Protestant  schools. 
"If,"  said  he,  "this  be  indeed  +  ;  if  imder  the  guise  of 
public  schools  the  Protestant  sch  re  being  continued  and 

Roman  Catholic  children  are  being  forced  to  attend  these 
Protestant  schools;  I  say,  and  let  my  words  be  heard  by 
friends  and  foes  over  the  length  and  breadth  of  the  land, 
the  strongest  case  has  been  made  out  for  interference,  and 
the  Roman  Catholics  of  Manitoba  have  been  put  to  the  most 
infamous  treatment."  A  little  later,  however,  when  the 
genial  Liberal  leader  visited  the  Prairie  Province  he  refused 
to  say  definitely  whether  this  supposition  was  a  fact  or  not. 

CABINET  CRISIS  AND  THE  REMEDIAL  ORDER 

From  the  day  in  January,  1895,  when  the  judgment  of  the 
Imperial  Privy  Council  was  received  at  Ottawa,  events  moved 
rapidly,  the  political  sky  became  more  and  more  stormy,  the 
controversy  more  critical  in  its  various  aspects — constitu- 
tional, sectarian,  and  partiban.  The  issue  was  one  which  had 
become  so  diflficult  to  handle  that  only  a  great  statesman  auch 
as  Sir  John  Macdonald  could  have  evolved  anything  like 


MANITOBA  AND    THE  SCHOOL   QUESTION  421 


peace  out  of  the  chaos  of  conflict  which  had  \iow  developed. 
And  even  the  greatest  ability  ind  mental  force  might  have 
been  usel.^ss  without  tlie  tact  and  savoir  faire  which  Sir  John 
had  possessed  in  such  a  pronounced  degree.  There  were 
men  of  high  ability  in  the  Cabinet,  but  they  did  not  possess 
the  combination  of  qualities  required,  and  the  disorganiza- 
tion grew  steadily  greater.  They  were  also  opposed,  in  the 
person  of  Mr.  Laurier,  by  a  man  whose  charm  of  manner 
and  grace  of  bearing  constituted  a  character  of  growing  in- 
fluence, and  one  in  which  ability  and  tact  were  combined 
to  a  degree  unequaled  since  the  days  of  Sir  John  Macdonald 
himself.  Meanwhile,  the  French-Canadian  members  of  the 
Cabinet  wanted  remedial  legislation  and  many  of  the  English 
members  disapproved  of  it.  The  result  of  the  difference  was 
so  pronounced  as  to  soon  become  public  property  in  all  kinds 
of  distorted  forms.  Finally,  in  Mar(!l).  1895,  it  was  decided 
to  unite  upon  what  was  termed  a  Remedial  Order.  This 
document  commanded  the  Provincial  Government,  under  the 
terms  of  the  constitution  and  in  accordance  with  the  decision 
jf  the  Privy  Council,  to  remedy  the  just  grievances  of  the 
"minority  in  jkanitoba  and  to  restore  any  educaLlonal  rights 
a  <\  privik  >es  which  may  have  been  taken  away  from  them — 
unuer  pain  of  Dominion  legislation  to  the  same  end.    -; :  > 

At  the  same  time  as  this  Order  was  is.sued  Sir  Charles 
Hibbert  Tupper,  Minister  of  Justice,  urged  the  bringing  on 
of  the  general  elections  immediately  and  there  is  every 
probability  that  if  this  course  had  been  pursued  the  party 
disaster  of  1896  would  not  have  occurred.  His  advice  was 
not  fallowed,  and  a  somewhat  hasty  resignation  of  his  office, 
as  a  consequence,  was  not  accepted.  Manitoba  absolutely 
refused  to  obey  the  Remedial  Order,  and  early  in  July  a 
Cf.binet  crisis  occurred.  Messrs.  J.  A.  Ouimet  and  A.  R. 
Ajigers,  with  Sir  Adolphe  Caron,  resigned  office.  For  a  few 
days  all  was  confusion,  and  then  Mr.  George  E.  Foster,  who 
was  acting  as  leader  in  the  Commons — Sir  M.  Bowell  being 
the  leader  in  the  Senate — announced  on  the  9th  of  the 
month  that  Mr.  Ouimet  and  Sir  A.  P.  Caron  had  ^^dthdrawn 


I 


I 


11 


?;? 


u 

hi 
W 


II 


tti; 


422 


THE  STORY  OF   THE   DOMINION 


their  resignations;  that  immediate  communication  would  be 
entered  into  with  the  Manitoba  Government  with  a  view  to 
effecting  some  settlement,  and  that  if  no  satisfactory  result 
could  be  reached  the  House  would  Lo  asked  in  the  ensuing 
January  to  legislate  along  the  lines  of  the  Remedial  Order. 
For  the  moment  the  crisis  was  over,  though  the  calm  was  a 
deceitful  one,  and  the  po^Hical  soil  was  still  breeding  storms. 
The  Manitoba  Government  had  not  the  slightest  intention 
of  losing  a  strong  party  position,  and  the  prospects  of  a  suc- 
cessful Provincial  election  campaign,  as  well  as  the  chance 
of  hurting  a  Conservative  Dominion  Government,  for  reasons 
of  public  peace  and  quietness.  They  would,  therefore,  do 
nothing.  Rumors  also  continued  to  grow  regarding  dissen- 
sions in  the  Dominion  Cabinet,  and,  on  December  11th,  the 
Hon.  N.  Clarke  Wallace,  Comptroller  of  Customs  and  leader 
of  the  Orangemen  of  Canada,  resigned  office.  Within  a  few 
weeks  the  Manitoba  Government  advised  the  Federal  au- 
thorities dist'.xictly  and  definitely  that  they  would  have  noth- 
ing to  do  with  the  re-establishment  of  Separate  Schools  in 
any  form,  and  then  appealed  to  the  people  for  approvp-l. 
They  were  given,  in  Jaruary,  1896,  a  sweeping  majority, 
and,  on  February  27th,  the  new  Legislature,  by  31  to  7 
votes,  protested  against  any  Dominion  interference  in  Provin- 
cial school  affairs.  Meanwhile,  the  Dominion  Parliament  had 
been  opened  on  January  2d,  and  the  announcement  made 
that  legislation  would  be  shortly  introduced  to  carry  out  the 
terms  of  the  Remedial  Order.  It  had  hardly  more  than  met, 
however,  before  another  and  far  more  serious  Cabinet  crisis 
occurred.  Seven  Ministers — Messrs.  George  E.  Foster,  John 
G.  Haggart,  W.  B.  Ives,  W.  II.  Montague,  A.  R.  Dickey, 
J.  F.  Wood,  and  Sir  Charles  Hibbert  Tupper — resigned  on 
the  5th  of  the  month. 

SIR    CHARLES    TUPPER    AND    THE    ELElCTIONS    OF    1896 

:>  It  was  simply  a  long-continued  disagreement  and  disor- 
ganization coming  to  a  head.  Sir  Mackenzie  Bowell  was 
hardly  a  strong  enough  leader  to  hold  together  a  Cabinet 


MANITOBA  AND    THE   SCHOOL    QUESTION 


423 


of  conflicting  opinions  and  personal  differencti  in  the  face 
of  a  public  crisis  and  a  most  complex  national  issue.  He 
was  a  man  of  the  highest  character  and  administrative  ability, 
but  would  have  been  the  first  to  disclaim  the  qualities  of  a 
great  leader.  The  trouble  lasted  for  some  days  and  ended 
in  Sir  Charles  Tupper,  who  had  recently  come  from  England 
to  further  the  proposed  fast  Atlantic  Line  of  Steamships, 
giving  up  his  High  Commissionership,  taking  a  position  in 
the  Ministry  and  the  lead  in  the  House  of  Commons.  To 
the  latter  he  was  shortly  afterward  elected  from  Cape  Breton 
Island.  It  was  a  brave  and  unselfish  thing  to  do,  and  the 
task  before  him  was  enough  to  appall  a  much  younger  and 
more  ambitious  man.  The  other  Ministers  rejoined  the  Gov- 
ernment and  Parliament  was  soon  able  to  proceed  with  the 
discussion  of  the  Remedial  Bill  which  was  introduced,  as 
promised,  on  February  lltb. 

Early  in  March,  Sir  Charles  Tupper  moved  the  second 
reading  of  the  measure,  and,  on  April  27th,  the  retirement 
of  Sir  M.  Bowell  and  his  own  accession  to  the  Premiership 
were  announced.  Meantime,  Sir  Donald  A.  Smith,  the  Hon. 
Alphonse  Desjardins,  and  the  Hon.  A.  R.  Dickey  had  been 
sent  to  Winnipeg  as  a  Commission  to  try  and  effect  a  com- 
promise or  settlement  of  the  School  question.  But  the  mis- 
sion was  unsuccessful,  and,  unfortunately  for  the  Conserva- 
tive party.  Sir  Charles  Tupper  was  equally  unsuccessful  in 
getting  the  Remedial  Bill  through  Parliament.  The  Oppo- 
sition obstructed  its  progress  until  the  time  came  when  the 
House  had  to  be  adjourned  and  the  general  elections  held. 
The  Tupper  Government  went  to  the  country  largely,  though 
not  of  their  own  desire,  upon  this  issue  and  met  with  an 
overwhelming  defeat.  Mr.  Laurier  became  Premier,  and, 
in  November,  1896,  an  arrangement  was  made  between  the 
new  Liberal  Government  of  Canada  and  that  of  Manitoba 
which  the  party  in  power  termed  a  successful  compromise 
and  absolute  settlement  and  which  the  new  Opposition  de- 
scribed as  a  veritable  farce.    -  ■'     i  £»m  *  -=  ^  ^i  ^ 

It  was  to  the  general  effect  that  the  non-sectarian  char- 


r  ■ 


fci 


r 

I       i 


424 


Tfll?   SrOiiy   OF  THE  DOMINION 


#;. 


acter  of  the  schools  should  be  maintained  and  provisions  made 
for  bi-lingual  teaching  where  desired  and  for  Catholic  relig- 
ious teaching  within  certain  hours  for  children  of  that  faith. 
Mutterings  of  dissatisfaction  were  still  hear^.  in  Quebec, 
however,  and  in  March,  1897,  the  Pope  issued  an  Encyclical 
instructing  the  Bishops  of  the  Province  to  suspend  all  further 
expression  of  opinion  or  action  until  His  Holiness  had  inves- 
tigated the  matter  thoroughly.  The  result  was  the  despatch 
of  Mgr.  Merry  del  Val  to  Canada  as  Papal  Ablegate  and 
the  practical  disappearance  of  the  issue  from  Canadian  pol- 
itics after  his  conferences  with  the  hierarchy  and  return  to 
Rome.  .  


CHAPTER    XXVII 


THE  SOUTH  AFRICAN  WAR  AND  IMPERIALISM  IN  CANADA 


THE  Contingents  which  went  from  Canada  to  partici- 
pate in  the  South  African  War  of  1899-1900  were 
the  effect  and  not  the  Cciuso  of  Canadian  Imperialism. 
The  sentiment  surrounding  the  war,  in  the  Dominion  as  in 
every  other  part  of  the  Empire,  was  the  arousing  of  a  dormant 
but  undoubtedly  existent  loyalty,  and  could  not,  therefore, 
be  the  cause  of  an  expressed  and  evident  devotion  to  Crown 
and  Empire.  Yet  the  war  did  service  which  perhaps  noth- 
ing else  could  have  done  in  proving  the  existence  of  this  Im- 
perial sentiment  to  the  most  shallow  observer  or  hostile  critic ' 
in  arousing  it  to  heights  of  enthusiasm  never  dreamed  of  by 
the  most  fervent  Imperialist ;  in  rendering  it  possible  for 
statesmen  to  change  many  a  pious  aspiration  into  practical 
action  or  announced  policy ;  in  making  the  organized  defence 
of  the  Empire  a  future  certainty,  and  its  somewhat  shadowy 
system  of  union  a  visible  fact  to  the  world  at  large. 

POSITION  OF   CANADA  IN  THE  EMPIRE 

S(    far  as  Canada  was  concerned  its  action  s(ems  to  have 
been  partly  a  product  of  the  sentiment  of  military  pride 


1  have 
pride 


SOUTH  AFRICAN  WAR   AND  IMPERIALISM 


425 


■which  was  first  aroused  by  the  gathering  together  of  Canadian 
troops  to  subdue  the  insurrection  of  1885 ;  partly  a  conse- 
quence of  the  growth  of  a  Canadian  sentiment  which  is  local 
in  scope  and  character,  yet  curiously  anxious  to  make  the 
Dominion  known  abroad  and  peculiarly  sensitive  to  British 
opinion  and  approbation ;  partly  an  outcome  of  genuine  loy- 
alty among  the  people  to  British  institutions  and  to  the  Crown 
as  embodied  in  the  personality  and  prestige  of  the  Queen; 
partly  a  result 'of  the  shock  to  sensitive  pride  which  came 
from  seeing  the  soil  of  the  Empire  in  South  Africa  invaded 
by  the  Boers,  and  the  position  of  the  Motherland  in  Europe 
threatened  by  a  possible  combination  of  hostile  Powers. 
Upon  the  surface  this  last-mentioned  cause  was  the  principal 
and  most  prominent  one. 

There  was  no  considerable  precedent  for  the  proffer  of 
troops  to  the  Imperial  Government.  During  the  Crimean 
War  nothing  had  been  done  by  the  then  disorganized  Prov- 
inces except  the  voting  of  a  sum  of  money  for  widows  and 
orphans  and  the  enlistment  of  the  Hundredth  Regiment.  In 
the  days  of  the  Trent  Affair  and  the  Fenian  raids,  the  Fort 
Garry  rising  and  the  Saskatchewan  rebellion,  volunteers  were 
available ;  but  it  was  for  the  purpose  of  fighting  upon  Cana- 
dian soil  in  defence  of  Canadian  homes. 

} .'  .  J-,  h  ■   ■ 

PROFFER   OF  TROOPS  . 

During  the  Soudan  War  of  1885,  a  small  body  of  Cana- 
dian volunteers  and  voyageurs,  paid  from  Imperial  funds 
and  enlisted  by  request  of  the  British  Commander,  had  gone 
up  the  Nile  in  Lord  Wolseley's  expedition  and  under  the  im- 
mediate command  of  Lieutenant-Colonel  F.  C.  Denison.  But 
there  was  not  much  public  interest  in  the  matter,  and  it 
hardly  created  a  ripple  upon  the  slow-rolling  stream  of  Cana- 
dian thought.  A  large  force,  amid  much  local  enthusiasm, 
had  also  departed  from  the  shores  of  New  South  Wales.  No 
doubt  tliese  precedents  had  some  effect,  but  a  greater  factor 
was  the  one  elsewhere  mentioned  of  an  increasing  military 
feeling  which  had  been  first  aroused  among  the  people  as  a 


I! 


ii 


w 


' 


I!  '^ 


ii 


426 


THE  STORY  OF   THE  DOMINION 


result  of  the  battles  of  1886  upon  the  North- West  soil,  and 
the  sufferings,  privations,  and  casualties  among  the  soldiers 
who  had  then  gone  to  the  front. 

More  important,  however,  as  a  factor  in  this  and  other  de- 
velopments of  an  Imperial  nature,  was  the  work  done  by  the 
Imperial  Federation  League  in  Canada  during  the  years  fol- 
lowing 1885.  That  organization  and  its  leaders  had  drawn 
persistent  attention,  in  speeches  and  pamphlets  and  magazines 
and  newspaper  articles,  to  the  change  of  sentiment  which  had 
come  over  the  public  men  of  Great  Britain  in  connection  with 
Empire  affairs;  to  the  fact  that  the  Manchester  School  of 
unpleasant  memory  was  practically  dead,  and  that  Mr.  Gold- 
win  Smith  was  but  a  lonely  voice  crying  in  the  wilderness  the 
doctrines  of  a  degraded  and  decadent  system  of  thought;  to 
the  melancholy  picture  presented  by  the  few  Canadian  be- 
lievers  in  the  old-time  advocacy  of  Colonial  independence  as 
they  stood  garbed  in  the  cast-off  clothes  of  Manchester ;  to  the 
greatness  of  the  Empire  in  extent,  in  population,  in  resources, 
in  power,  and  in  political  usefulness  to  all  humanity ;  to  the 
necessity  and  desirability  of  closer  union. 

The  effect  of  the  League's  work*  in  England  and  in  Can- 
ada became  indirectly  visible  in  inany  directions,  and  strongly 
aided  a  development  along  Imperial  lines  which  has  since  be- 
come marked  and  continuous.  Canada  took  part  in  the  In- 
dian and  Colonial  Exhibition  of  1886,  in  the  Imperial  Con- 
ference of  1887,  in  the  organization  of  the  Imperial  Institute, 
in  the  calling  of  the  Colonial  Conference  of  1894  at  Ottawa, 
in  a  number  of  movements  looking  to  Imperial  cables.  Im- 
perial penny  postage,  Imperial  tariffs,  and  Imperial  steam- 
ship lines.  But  nothing  of  a  military  nature  was  advocated, 
and  the  point  was,  in  fact,  almost  tabooed.  The  leaders  of 
the  League  in  London,  in  Melbourne,  or  in  Toronto,  were 
equally  afraid  to  touch  a  portion  of  the  general  problem  which 
was  obviously  so  far  in  advance  of  Colonial  public  opinion  as 

•  Aa  an  active  officer  of  the  League  during  almost  the  whole  of  its 
history  in  Canada  the  author  is  in  a  position  to  know  something  of  the 
work  done  and  influence  wielded  by  the  organization.  ^,         ,.,        j 


.«»• 


SOUTH  AFRICAN  WAR   AND   IMPERIALISM 


427 


.««• 


of  its 
of  the 


to  render  its  advocacy  dangerous  to  the  cause.     The  events 
of  1899  wc-3,  therefore,  all  the  more  remarkable. 

That  a  struggle  should  break  out  in  far-away  South  Africa 
and  create  in  Canada  and  Australasia  an  instantaneous  inten- 
sity of  interest  comparable  only  to  that  felt  by  the  American 
people  of  the  North  in  their  conflict  with  the  South  is  one 
of  the  most  curious  incidents  in  history.  The  fact  of  its  be- 
ing a  war  in  which  the  territory  of  the  Empire  was  threat- 
ened was  the  real  reason  for  this  stirring  expression  of  loyal 
sentiment,  though  the  advance  of  public  opinion  in  this  con- 
nection is  shown  when  we  remember  that,  in  1862,  Canadian 
soil  was  menaced  by  the  Trent  Affair,  and,  in  1866,  by  the 
Fenian  raids,  without  eliciting  any  special  signs  of  sympathy 
from  Australasia;  while  in  1878  the  Empire  of  India  was 
threatened  with  invasion  by  Russia,  and  again  at  the  time  of 
the  Pendjeh  incident,  without  creating  any  great  stir  in  either 
Canada  or  Australia.  So  with  the  peril  which  faced  Natal 
in  1879  from  the  blood-stained  Impis  of  Cetywayo.  In  the 
case  of  the  Transvaal  imbroglio,  however,  Canada  felt  a  spe- 
cial attraction  from  the  first  on  account  of  its  being  a  racial 
matter,  and  one  of  a  kind  which  the  Dominion  had  encoun- 
tered more  than  once  and  disposed  of  successfully.  The 
diplomatic  contest  between  Mr.  Chamberlain  and  President 
Kruger  and  Sir  Alfred  Milner  was,  therefore,  watched  with 
keen  attention,  and  there  was  considerable  isolated  talk  of 
volunteering  for  the  front  in  case  of  war — though  this  was 
checked  by  a  feeling  that  the  struggle  would  be  short  and  in- 
significant.        '      '    ■  r    '  '        .  : 

INTEREST    SHOWN    IN    THE    IMPERIAL    SITUATION 

Still,  there  was  among  the  military  men  a  strong  under- 
current of  desire  to  raise  some  kind  of  volunteer  force  for  ac- 
tive service,  and,  in  this  connection,  Lieutenant-Colonel  S. 
Hughes,  M.  P.,  was  particularly  enthusiastic.  He  intro- 
duced the  subject  in  Parliament,  on  July  12th,  while  nego- 
tiations were  still  pending  between  President  Kruger  and 
Mr.  Chamberlain.     The  result  was  that,  despite  the  fact  of 


i: 


i  5 


\ 


I 


■!.■< 


428 


TEE  STORY  OF   TEE  DOMINION 


l: 


Queensland  having  already  offered  troops,  and  his  own  ex- 
pression of  opinion  that  5,000  men  would  readily  volunteer 
in  Canada,  it  was  thought  best  not  to  take  any  immediate 
action,  and  the  Premier,  Sir  Wilfrid  Laurier,  expressed  the 
hope  and  belief  that,  in  view  of  the  absolute  justice  of  the 
Uitlanders'  claims,  recognition  would  eventually  be  given 
them  and  war  averted.  On  July  Blst  more  definite  action 
was  taken,  and  the  following  Resolution,  moved  in  the  House 
of  Commons  by  Sir  Wilfrid  Laurier  and  seconded  by  the  Hon. 
G.  E.  Foster  in  the  absence,  but  with  the  approval  of,  Sir 
Charles  Tupper  as  leader  of  the  Opposition,  was  carried  unan- 
imously : 

"That  this  House  has  viewed  with  regret  the  complications  which  have 
arisen  in  the  Transvaal  Republic,  of  which  Her  Majesty  is  Suzerain, 
from  the  refusal  to  accord  to  Her  Majesty's  subjects  now  settled  in  that 
region  an  adequate  participation  in  its  government.  That  this  House 
has  learned  with  still  greater  regret  that  the  condition  of  things  there 
existing  has  resulted  in  intolerable  oppression  and  has  produced  great 
and  dangerous  excitement  among  several  classes  of  Her  Majesty's  sub- 
jects in  Her  South  African  possessions.  That  this  House,  representing 
a  people  which  has  largely  succeeded  by  the  adoption  of  the  principle 
of  conceding  equal  political  rights  to  every  portion  of  the  population,  in 
harmonizing  estrangements,  and  in  producing  general  content  with  the 
existing  system  of  Government,  desires  to  express  its  sympathy  with  the 
efforts  of  Her  Majesty's  Imperial  authorities  to  obtnin  for  the  subjects 
of  Her  Majesty,  who  have  taken  up  their  abode  in  the  Transvaal,  such 
measure  of  justice  and  political  recognition  as  may  be  found  necessary 
to  secure  them  in  the  full  possession  of  equal  rights  and  liberties." 

*  The  members,  after  passing  the  motion,  sprang  to  their 
feet  and  sang  ''God  Save  the  Queen,"  amid  a  scene  of  strik- 
ing enthusiasm  which  was  duplicated  a  little  later  in  the 
Senate.  Following  this  expression  of  feeling.  Colonel  Hughes 
endeavored,  upon  his  own  responsibility,  to  raise  a  regiment 
for  foreign  service,  and,  in  doing  so,  naturally  came  into  colx 
lision  with  the  head  of  the  militia — Major-General  E.  T.  H. 
Hutton.  The  result  of  this  enthusiastic  rashness  was,  of 
course,  failure  in  the  attempt,  though  at  the  same  time  ho  was 
able  to  afford  a  distinct  indication  of  the  general  feeli»ig  in 
favor  of  something  being  done  should  war  break  out.  Lead- 
ing papers  took  up  the  subject  and  approved  the  sending  of 
a  force  in  case  of  necessity,  and,  on  October  2d,  a  few  days 


SOUTH   AFRICAN   WAR   AND   IMPERIALISM 


429 


own  ex- 
rolunteer 
amediate 
38sed  the 
;e  of  the 
be  given 
te  action 
16  House 
the  Hon. 
1  of,  Sir 
led  unan- 


which  have 
I  Suzerain, 
led  in  that 
this  House 
linga  there 
uced  great 
esty's  sub- 
jpresenting 
e  principle 
Illation,  in 
t  with  the 
y  with  the 
le  subjects 
ivaal,  such 
necessary 
tties." 

to  their 

of  strik- 

f  in  the 

I  Hughes 

regiment 

into  coL 
IE.  T.  H. 

was,  of 
le  ho  was 
eelitig  in 
Lead- 
nding  of 

ew  days 


before  the  war  began,  a  large  and  representative  meeting  of 
Militia  officers  was  held  in  Toronto  and  the  following  Reso- 
lution passed  with  unanimity  and  enthusiasm  on  motion  of 
Lieutenant-Colonels  George  T.  Denison  and  James  Mason: 
"That  the  members  of  the  Canadian  Military  Institute,  feel- 
ing that  it  is  a  clear  and  definite  duty  for  all  British  posses- 
sions to  show  their  willingness  to  contribute  in  the  common 
defence  in  case  of  need,  express  the  hope  that,  in  view  of  the 
impending  hostilities  in  South  Africa,  the  Government  of 
Canada  will  promptly  offer  a  contingent  of  Canadian  Mi- 
litia to  assist  in  supporting  the  interests  of  our  Empire  in 
that  country."  • 

On  the  following  day  the  Prime  Minister  was  interviewed 
at  Ottawa  and  expressed  the  opinion  that  it  would  be  uncon- 
stitutional for  the  Militia,  or  a  portion  of  it,  to  be  sent  out 
of  Canada  without  the  permission  of  Parliament,  and  that 
it  would  take  some  weeks  to  call  that  body  together.  Sir  Wil- 
frid Laurier  declared*  that  "there  is  no  doubt  as  to  the  atti- 
tude of  the  Government  on  all  questions  that  mean  menace  to 
British  interests,  but  in  this  present  case  our  limitations  are 
very  clearly  defined.  And  so  it  is  that  we  have  not  offered 
a  Canadian  Contingent  to  the  Home  authorities."  Mean- 
time, however,  the  matter  had  been  under  consideration,  all 
the  independent  offers  to  serve  from  individuals  or  regiments 
had  been  duly  forwarded  to  the  Colonial  Office,  and  each  had 
received  the  stereotyped  reply  that,  while  negotiations  were 
in  progress,  no  further  troops  were  required. 

Public  sentiment  in  Canada  soon  proved  too  strong  for 
what  might  have  been,  in  other  circumstances,  a  legitimate 
constitutional  delay.  On  September  27th  Sir  Charles  Tup- 
per,  in  a  speech  at  Halifax,  offered  the  Government  the  fullest 
support  of  the  Conservative  Opposition  in  the  sending  of  a 
Contingent,  and,  on  October  6th,  telegraphed  the  Premier  to 
the  same  effect.  The  British  Empire  League  in  Canada 
passed  a  Resolution  declaring  that  the  time  had  come  when 

'=4  r-i    ;  :  £  ,;     •  Toronto  "Globe,"  October  4,  1899.    >^;  : 


III 


I 

! 


I 
i 


¥ 


430 


THE  STORY   OF  THE  DOMINION 


all  parts  of  the  Queen's  dominions  should  share  in  the  de- 
fence of  British  interests,  and  the  St.  John  "Telegraph"— 
a  strong  Liberal  paper — declared,  on  September  30th,  that 
"Canada  should  not  only  send  a  force  to  the  Transvaal,  but 
should  maintain  it  in  the  field."  The  Montreal  "Star"  sought 
and  received  telegrams  from  the  Mayors  of  nearly  every  town 
in  the  Dominion  indorsing  the  proposal  to  despatch  military 
assistance  to  fellow-subjects  in  South  Africa.  Mr.  J.  W. 
Johnston,  Mayor  of  Belleville,  represented  the  general  tone 
of  these  multitudinous  messages  in  the  words :  "It  is  felt  that 
the  Dominion,  being  a  partner  in  the  Empire,  should  bear 
Imperial  responsibilities  as  well  as  share  Imperial  honors  and 
protection."  The  Toronto  "Globe" — the  leading  Ontario  Lib- 
eral paper — also  supported  the  proposal,  and  soon  the  country 
from  Halifax  to  Vancouver  was  stirred  as  it  had  not  been 
since  the  North- West  Rebellion  of  1885 — perhaps  as  it  has 
never  been  in  the  sense  of  covering  the  entire  Dominion. 

ATTITUDE   OF    FEENCH    CANADIANS 

There  was,  inevitably,  some  opposition,  and  it  was  largely 
voiced  by  the  Hon.  J.  Israel  Tarte,  Minister  of  Public 
Works  in  the  Dominion  Government.  It  was  not  apparently 
a  note  of  disloyalty;  it  was  simply  the  expression  of  a  lack 
of  enthusiasm  and  the  magnifying  of  constitutional  dangers 
or  difficulties.  No  one  in  Canada  expected  the  French  Cana- 
dians, among  whom  Mr.  Tarte  is  a  party  leader,  to  look 
upon  the  matter  with  just  the  same  warmth  of  feeling  as  actu- 
ated English  Canadians ;  and  very  few  believed  that  the  ab- 
sence of  this  enthusiasm  indicated  any  sentiment  of  actual 
disloyalty  to  the  Crown  or  the  coimtry.  The  people  of  Que- 
bec had  not  yet  been  educated  up  to  the  point  of  participation 
in  British  wars  and  Imperial  defence ;  they  were,  as  a  matter 
of  fact,  in  much  the  same  position  that  the  people  of  Ontario 
had  been  in  ten  or  fifteen  years  before.  The  influences  mak- 
ing for  closer  Empire  unity  could  never  in  their  case  include 
a  racial  link  or  evolve  from  a  common  language  and  literature. 
The  most  an  1  best  that  could  be  expected  was  a  passive  and 


SOUTH   AFRICAN   WAR    AND    IMPERIALISM 


481 


the  de- 
iph"— 
h,  that 
,al,  but 

sought 
y  town 
lilitary 

J.  W. 
al  tone 
elt  that 
Id  bear 
ors  and 
rio  Lib- 
country 
ot  been 
3  it  has 
ion. 


largely 
Public 
)arently 
:  a  lack 
dangers 

Cana- 
to  look 
as  actu- 
the  ab- 

actual 
of  Que- 
ipation 

matter 
Ontario 
es  mak- 
include 
3rature. 
ive  and 


not  distinctly  unfriendly  acquiescence  in  the  new  and  im- 
portant departure  from  precedent  and  practice  which  was 
evidenced  by  the  announcement,  on  October  12th,  that  a  Cana- 
dian Contingent  had  been  accepted  by  the  Imperial  Govern- 
ment and  was  to  be  despatched  to  South  Africa. 

There  was  no  active  opposition  to  the  proposal  except  from 
a  section  of  the  French-Canadian  press,  edited  by  Frenchmen 
from  Paris,  and  from  a  rash  young  ^lember  of  Parliament 
who  resigned  his  seat  as  a  protest  and  was  afterward  re-elected 
by  acclamation — both  parties  deeming  it  wisest  to  treat  the 
matter  as  of  no  importance.  Mr.  Tarte,  himself,  eventually 
fell  into  line  with  his  colleagues,  but  with  the  public  an- 
nouncement that  he  did  not  approve  the  principle  of  sending 
troops  abroad  without  Parliamentary  sanction ;  that  he  had 
obtained  the  Government's  approval  to  an  official  statement 
that  this  present  action  was  not  to  be  considered  as  a  prece- 
dent; and  that  he  thought  the  only  way  to  adequately  meet 
similar  situations  in  future  was  by  definite  and  permanent 
arrangement  with  the  Imperial  authorities  and  representation 
in  Imperial  Councils.  Upon  the  subject  as  a  whole  his  atti- 
tude was  certainly  logical  and  loyal,  but  in  effect  it  was  un- 
timely, unpopular,  and  unnecessary.  And  the  continued  ut- 
terances of  his  son's  paper — "La  Patrie"  of  Montreal — were 
of  a  nature  calculated  to  irritate  loyal  sentiment  and  to  arouse 
serious  misapprehension  among  French  Canadians. 

However,  the  feeling  of  the  country  generally  was  too  fer- 
vent to  permit  this  obstacle  having  anything  more  than  an 
ephemeral  and  passing  influence.  And  any  opposition  which 
might  exist  among  French  Canadians  assumed  an  essentially 
passive  character.  Toward  the  end  of  October  an  already  an- 
nounced pledge  from  an  anonymous  friend*  of  Sir  Charles 
Tupper's  to  insure  the  life  of  each  member  of  the  Contingent 
to  the  extent  of  $1,000  was  redeemed,  and  on  October  24th 
the  following  message  was  received  through  the  Secretary  of 
State  for  the  Colonies:  "Iler  Majesty  the  Queen  desires  to 

*  This  generosity  was  afterward  found  to  emanate  from  the  ever-gen- 
erous Lord  Strathcona. 


I 


:|. 


l¥ 


M! 


m 


THE  STORY  OF   THE  DOMINION 


i 


thank  the  people  of  her  Dominion  of  Canada  for  their  strik- 
ing manifestation  of  loyalty  and  patriotism  in  their  voluntary 
offer  to  send  troops  to  co-operate  with  Her  Majesty's  Imperial 
forces  in  maintaining  her  position  and  the  rights  of  British 
subjects  in  South  Africa.  She  wishes  the  troops  God-speed 
and  a  safe  return." 

THE   PIKST   CONTINGENT   FOR  SOUTH  AFEICA 

The  first  Contingent  of  one  thousand  men  steamed  down 
the  St.  Lawrence  from  Quebec  on  October  30th,  after  fare- 
well banquets  to  the  officers  and  an  ovation  from  immense 
crowds  in  the  gayly  decorated  streets  of  the  "Ancient  Capi- 
tal." For  weeks  before  this  date  little  divisions  of  50,  or 
100,  or  125  men  had  been  leavii^g  their  respective  local 
centres  amid  excitement  such  as  Canada  had  never  witnessed 
before.  St.  John  and  Halifax,  on  the  Atlantic  Coast,  were 
met  by  Victoria  and  Vancouver,  on  the  shores  of  the  Pacific, 
in  a  wild  outburst  of  patriotic  enthusiasm.  Toronto  and 
Winnipeg  responded  for  the  centre  of  the  Dominion,  and,  at 
the  Quebec  "send  off,"  there  were  delegations  and  individual 
representatives  from  all  parts  of  the  country.  Every  village 
which  contributed  a  soldier  to  the  Contingent  also  added  to 
the  wave  of  popular  feeling  by  marking  his  departure  as  an 
event  of  serious  import,  while  Patriotic  Funds  of  every  kind 
were  started  and  well  maintained  throughout  the  country.  It 
was,  indeed,  a  manifestation  of  the  military  and  Imperial 
spirit  such  as  Canadians  had  never  dreamed  of  seeing,  and 
for  many  months  the  words  upon  every  lip  were  those  of  the 
popular  air — "Soldiers  of  the  Queen."  To  quote  the  Hon. 
F.  W.  Borden,  Minister  of  Militia  and  Defence,  at  the  Que- 
bec banquet  on  October  29th:  "This  was  the  people's  move- 
ment, not  that  of  any  Government  or  party ;  it  emanated  from 
the  whole  people  of  Canada,  and  it  is  being  indorsed  by  them 
as  shown  by  the  words  and  deeds  of  the  people  at  all  points 
where  the  troops  started  from."  The  Earl  of  Minto,  as 
Governor-General,  in  bidding  official  farewell  to  the  troops 
on  the  succeeding  day,  expressed  the  same  idea,  and  added, 


SOUTH   AFRICAN   WAR    Am>    IMPERIALISM         483 


as  an 
ry  kind 
ry.  It 
nperial 
ig,  and 
'of  the 
e  Hon. 
le  Qne- 

move- 
d  from 
)y  them 

points 
nto,   as 

troops 

added, 


in  words  of  serious  importance  when  coming  from  the 
Queen's  Representative  and  bearing,  indirectly,  upon  the 
much-discussed  question  of  Government  hesitancy  in  making 
the  first  offer  of  military  aid,  that: 


ill 


'  ■ 


.^ ,  t' 


"The  people  of  Canada  had  shown  that  they  had  no  inclination  to  dis- 
cuss the  quibbles  of  Colonial  responsibility.  They  had  unmistakably 
asked  that  their  loyal  offers  be  made  known  and  rejoiced  in  their  gra- 
cious acceptance.  In  so  doing  surely  they  had  opened  a  new  chapter  in 
the  histoiy  of  our  Empire.  They  freely  made  their  military  gift  to  the 
Imperial  tause  to  share  the  privations  and  dangers  and  glories  of  the  Im- 
perial army.  They  had  insisted  on  giving  vent  to  an  expression  of  senti- 
mental, Imperial  unity,  which  might,  perhaps,  liereafter  prove  more 
binding  than  any  written  Imperial  constitution." 

The  principal  officers  of  the  Contingent  were  its  com- 
mander, Lieutenant-Colonel  W.  D.  Otter,  who  had  seen  ac- 
tive service  in  the  North- West  Rebellion,  Lieutenant-Colonel 
LawT'^Tice  Buchan,  Lieutenant-Colonel  O.  C.  C.  Pelletier, 
Major  J.  C.  McDougall,  and  Major  S.  J.  A.  Denison,  who 
was  afterward  appointed  to  Lord  Roberts'  Staff.  The  troop- 
ship Sardinian  arrived  at  Cape  Town  on  the  29th  of  Novem- 
ber, and  the  Canadians  were  given  a  splendid  reception — Sir 
Alfred  Milner  cabling  Lord  Minto  that:  "The  people  here 
showed  in  unmistakable  manner  their  appreciation  of  the 
sympathy  and  help  of  Canada  in  their  hour  of  trial."  The 
Royal  Canadian  Regiment  of  Infantry,  as  the  Contingent  was 
called,  at  once  went  up  to  De  Aar,  and  later  on  to  Belmont, 
the  scene  of  Lord  Methuen's  gallant  fight.  From  here  a  por- 
tion of  the  Canadian  troops  took  part  in  a  successful  raid 
upon  Sunnyside,  a  place  some  distance  away,  where  there  was 
an  encampment  of  Boers.  A  number  of  the  enemy  were  cap- 
tured, but  the  incident  was  chiefly  memorable  as  the  first  time 
in  history,  as  well  as  in  the  war  itself,  when  Canadians  and 
Australians  have  fought  side  by  side  with  British  regular 
troops.  Meanwhile,  public  feeling  in  Canada  seemed  to 
favor  the  sending  of  further  aid,  and  its  feasi])ility  was  more 
than  shown  by  the  thousands  who  had  volunteered  for  the  first 
Contingent  over  and  above  those  selected.  But  it  was  not 
until  some  of  the  earlier  reverses  of  the  w^ar  took  place  that 
the  offer  of  a  second  Contingent  was  pressed  upon  the  Home 

DOMINION — 19 


i 


It 


434 


THE   STORY   OF    THE   DOMINION 


'.VA 


Government.  On  Xovember  8th,  however,  it  was  declined  for 
the  moment  and  a  week  later  Mr.  Chamberlain  wrote  the  fol- 
lowing expressive  words  to  the  Governor-General: 

"Tho  great  enthusiaHin  and  the  general  eagerness  to  take  an  active 
part  in  the  miiitury  expedition  which  has  unfortunately  been  found  nec- 
essary for  the  maintenance  of  British  rights  and  interests  in  South  Africa 
have  afforded  much  gratification  to  Her  Majesty's  Government  and  tho 
people  of  this  country.  Tho  desire  exhibited  to  share  in  the  risks  and 
burdens  of  empire  has  been  welcomed  not  only  as  a  proof  of  the  stanch 
loyalty  of  tht  Dominion  and  of  its  sympathy  with  the  policy  pursued  by 
Her  Majesty'.  Government  in  South  Africa,  but  also  as  an  expression  of 
that  growing  reeling  of  the  unity  and  solidarity  of  the  Empire  which  has 
marked  the  relations  of  the  Mother-country  with  the  Colonies  during 
recent  years." 

A   SECOND   CONTINGENT   IS   SENT  "       ' 

On  December  18th,  events  in  South  Africa  and  the  pres- 
sure of  loyal  proffers  of  aid  from  Australia  and  elsewhere 
induced  the  Imperial  Government  to  change  their  minds,  tho 
second  Contingent  from  the  Dominion  was  accepted,  and 
once  again  the  call  to  arms  resounded  throughout  Canada. 
Tho  first  troops  had  been  composed  of  infantry,  the  second 
were  made  up  of  artillery  and  cavalry.  Eventually,  it  was 
decided  to  send  1,220  men,  together  with  horses,  guns,  and 
complete  equipment,  and  they  duly  left  for  the  Cape,  in  de- 
tachments, toward  the  end  of  January  and  in  the  beginning 
of  February.  A  third  force  of  400  mounted  men  was  re- 
cruited in  the  latter  month  and  sent  to  the  seat  of  war  fully 
equipped,  and  with  all  expenses  paid,  through  the  personal 
and  patriotic  generosity  of  Lord  Strathcona  and  Mount  Royal, 
the  Canadian  High  Commissioner  in  London.  In  addition 
to  "Strathcona's  Horse,"  another  independent  force  of  125 
men  was  offered  in  similar  fashion  bv  the  British  Columbia 
Provincial  Government  o"  .^'  jepted  at  London  and 
Ottawa,  though  for  ivv  political  change  never 

despatched;  while  wj        >mmenced  to  proffer  an 

organized  Dominio     liriga'      of  i  >,000  men,  if  required. 

Little  wonder,  ther*  for^  when  such  a  popular  spirit  was 
shown,  and  when  the  anxi(  ty  to  enlist  and  the  influence  used 
to  obtain  a  chance  of  going  to  the  front  v     «!  greater  than 


SOUTH   AFRICAN  WAR   AND   IMPERIALISM 


485 


was 

and 

1  de- 


never 

'er  an 

•ed. 

t  was 
used 
than 


men  usually  show  to  obtain  positions  of  permanent  financial 
value,  that  Field  Marshal  Lord  Roberts,  shortly  after  his 
appointment  to  South  Africa,  should  have  cabled  his  expres- 
sion of  belief  that  "the  action  of  Canada  will  always  be  a 
glorious  page  in  the  history  of  tlie  sons  of  the  Empire.  I 
look  for  great  things  from  the  men  she  has  sent  and  is  send- 
ing to  the  front."  Meantime,  even  the  slightest  opposition 
to  the  policy  of  aiding  the  Empire  had  died  out — in  Tact,  its 
assertion  would  have  been  dangerous,  or  at  least  unpleasant, 
and  when  Parliament  met  early  in  February  the  Government 
announced  its  intention  of  asking  a  vote  of  $2,000,000  for 
expenses  in  the  despatch  of  the  Contingents  and  for  the  pay- 
ment after  their  return,  or  to  the  heirs  of  those  who  were 
killed,  of  an  addition  to  the  ordinary  wage  of  the  British 
soldier. 

This  brief  description  of  the  events  leading  up  to  and  illus- 
trating Canada's  action  during  an  eventful  period  may  be 
concluded  by  a  quotation  from  the  speech  of  the  Hon.  G.  W. 
Ross,  Prime  Minister  of  Ontario,  at  a  banquet  given  in  To- 
ronto, on  December  2l8t,  to  Mr.  J.  G.  II.  Bergeron,  M.  P., 
of  Montreal — a  French  Canadian  who  had  expressed  in  fer- 
vent terms  what  he  believed  to  be  the  loyalty  of  his  people  to 
the  British  Crown.  Mr.  Ross  declared  in  emphatic  and  elo- 
quent language  that : 

"It  is  not  for  us  to  say  that  one  or  two  Contingents  should  be  sent 
to  the  Transvaal,  but  to  say  to  Great  Britain  that  all  our  money  and 
all  our  men  are  at  the  disposal  of  the  British  Empire.  It  is  not  for 
us  to  balance  questions  of  Parliamentary  procedure  when  Britain's  in- 
terests are  at  stake,  but  to  respond  to  the  call  that  has  been  sent  through- 
out the  whole  Empire,  and  to  show  that  in  this  western  bulwark  of  the 
Empire  there  are  men  as  ready  to  stand  by  her  as  were  her  men  at 
Waterloo.  It  is  not  for  us  to  be  pessimists,  but  to  have  undying  faith 
in  British  power  and  steadily  to  maintain  the  integrity  of  her  Empire. 
I  hope  that  the  present  strife  may  soon  pass,  and  that,  at  its  close, 
Canadians  will  feel  that  they  have  done  their  duty  to  the  flag  that  has 
protected  them  and  under  whose  paternal  Government  they  have  pros- 
pered in  the  past.  Their  motto  should  be  'Canada  and  the  Empire,  one 
and  inseparable,  now  and  forever.'"  .,  .  .    ..> 

The  men  despatched  from  Canada,  as  already  stated,  num- 
bered 3,000  altogether.     They  included  the  Royal  Canadian 


^ 


436 


THE   STORY   OF   THE   DOMINION 


AM 


Regiment  under  Colonel  Otter,  the  Canadian  Mounted  Rifles, 
Strathcona's  Horse,  and  some  Batteries  of  Field  Artillery. 
The  1st  Battalion  of  the  Rifles  was  commanded  by  Lieuten- 
ant-Colonel F.  L.  Lessard,  the  2d  Battalion  by  Lieutenant- 
Colonel  L.  W.  Herchmer,  and  afterward  by  Lieutenant-Colo- 
nel T.  B.  D.  Evans.  Strathcona's  Horse  was  commanded  by 
Lieutenant-Colonel  S.  B.  Steele  and  the  Field  Artillery  by 
Lieutenant-Colonel  C.  W.  Drury.  They  were  all  good  offi- 
cers, and  Colonel  Otter,  especially,  won  a  high  reputation  for 
the  efficiency  and  discipline  of  his  Regiment,  the  largest  dis- 
tinct Canadian  body  at  the  front.  The  men  of  all  these 
forces  saw  much  service  and  experienced  much  privation. 
The  Royal  Canadian  Regiment,  or  portions  of  it,  shared  in 
the  skirmish  at  Sunnyside,  in  the  far  more  important  battles 
around  Paardeberg  and  in  the  capture  of  Cronje. 

For  their  gallantry  in  this  latter  fight,  the  impetus  which 
they  gave  to  the  Boer  General's  surrender,  and  the  position 
they  took  and  held  beside  the  greatest  historic  regiments  of 
the  Motherland,  the  Canadians  won  immediate  and  lasting 
fame.  Lord  Roberts  eulogized  them  publicly,  cables  of  con- 
gratulation came  to  Canada  from  the  Queen  and  Lord  Wolse- 
ley,  Mr.  Chamberlain,  and  Sir  Alfred  Milner,  and,  as  it  were 
in  an  hour,  Canada  appeared  to  take  its  proper  place  in  the 
defence  system  of  the  Empire.  These  things  do  not  really 
happen  in  such  an  instantaneous  fashion,  but,  as  the  roar 
of  explosion  follows  the  making  of  the  cannon,  the  manufac- 
ture of  its  powder  and  shot,  and  its  loading  in  an  effective 
manner,  so  the  charge  of  the  Royal  Canadians  at  Paardeberg 
revealed  to  the  world  in  a  moment  the  existence  of  that  unity 
of  sentiment  and  Imperial  loyalty  which  had  been  develop- 
ing for  years  in  the  backwoods  and  cities  of  Canada  or  in  the 
bush  and  the  civic  centres  of  Australia. 

The  Regiment  took  part  in  the  famous  march  to  Bloemfon- 
tein  and  in  the  further  campaign  toward  Kroonstadt  and  Jo- 
hannesburg into  Pretoria.  They  were  brigaded  with  the 
Gordons  and  other  Highland  regiments  for  a  time,  and  were 
then  placed  in  the  19th  Brigade,  under  Major-General  H.  L. 


SOUTH   AFRICAN  WAR   AND   IMPERIALISM         437 


k 


Smith-Dorrien,  who,  on  July  16th,  issued  an  ofl&cial  Order 
of  historic  interest  in  which  he  stated  that:  "The  19th  Bri- 
gade has  achieved  a  record  of  which  any  infantry  might  be 
proud.  Since  the  date  it  was  formed,  namely,  the  12th  of 
February,  it  has  marched  620  miles,  often  on  half  rations 
and  seldom  on  full.  It  has  taken  part  in  the  capture  of  ten 
towns,  fought  in  ten  general  actions,  and  on  twenty-seven 
other  days.  In  one  period  of  thirty  days  it  fought  on  twenty- 
one  of  them  and  marched  327  miles.  The  casualties  have 
been  beljween  four  and  five  hundred  and  the  defeats  nil/* 
Meanwhile,  the  Canadian  Mounted  Rifles  had  been  attached 
to  Sir  Redvers  Buller's  force,  and  under  the  more  immediatf 
command  of  Mujor-Goneral  E.  T.  H.  Hutton.  They  took 
part,  and,  later  on  the  Strathcona's,  in  the  conflicts  and  inci- 
dents of  the  march  from  Natal  to  Pretoria  and  the  North, 
and  upon  several  occasions  won  distinguished  mention  from 
their  commanders. 

One  of  those  incidents  which  brightened  this  war  by  its 
evidences  of  heroism  was  the  holding  of  an  advanced  post 
»t  Horning  Spruit  by  four  men  of  "D"  Squadron,  Mounted 
Rifles,  against  some  fifty  Boers.  Two  of  them  were  killed 
and  two  wounded,  but  the  post  was  held.  General  Hutton  in 
afterward  writing  Lord  Minto  (on  July  2,  1900),  described 
the  action  as  showing  "gallantry  and  devotion  to  duty"  of  a 
high  order,  and  went  on  to  say  that  the  North-West  Mounted 
Police — to  which  these  men  had  originally  belonged — "have 
been  repeatedly  conspicuous  in  displaying  the  highest  quali- 
ties required  of  a  Britii^^i  soldier  in  the  field."  The  "C"  Bat- 
tery of  the  Royal  Canadian  Artillery  had,  meantime,  been 
sent  round  by  way  of  Beira  and  Portuguese  territory,  through 
Rhodesia,  to  join  Colonel  Plumer's  Column  in  the  relief  of 
Mafeking.  With  a  Queensland  Contingent  they  shared  in 
the  hardships  of  a  long  and  difficult  journey,  and  arrived  at 
Mafeking,  after  a  brilliant  march  of  thirty-three  miles,  just 
in  time  to  contribute  materially  to  the  rescue  of  its  heroic  lit- 
tle garrison.  They  had  journeyed  from  Cape  Town,  by  sea 
and  land,  over  3,000  miles,  in  thirty-three  days — partly  by 


188 


THE   STORY    OF   THE   DOMINION 


1 


ship,  partly  by  marching,  partly  by  mule  wagons,  and  partly 
by  train.  •      ■' 

Individual  incidents  of  bravery  were  numerous  in  all  tlie 
Contingents  and  the  losses  by  death,  or  wounds,  and  the  suf- 
fering from  enteric  fever  or  other  diseases  very  great.  Pri- 
vate R.  R.  Thompson  of  the  Royal  Canadian  Regiment  won 
the  Queen's  Scarf — one  of  which  Her  Majesty  had  specially 
knitted  for  a  representative  of  each  of  the  four  chief  ex- 
ternal portions  of  her  Empire.  Sergeant  A,  H.  L.  Richard- 
son of  Strathcona's  Horse  was  awarded  the  Victoria  Cross 
for  gallantry  in  action.  Captain  H.  M.  Arnold  of  the  Royal 
Canadians  died  from  wounds  received  while  leading  his  men 
at  Paardeberg.  Lieutenant  H.  L.  Borden,  son  of  the  Min- 
ister of  Militia,  and  Lieutenant  J.  E.  Burch  of  St.  Catherines, 
were  killed  while  leading  their  men  with  pronounced  bravery 
in  another  action.  Lieutenant  M.  G.  Blanchard  of  the  Royal 
Canadians,  and  who  afterward  joined  the  Derbyshires,  Lieu- 
tenant F.  V.  Young  of  the  Mounted  Rifles,  Captain  C.  A. 
Hensley  of  the  2d  Dublin  Fusileers,  Lieutenant  J.  W.  Os- 
borne of  the  Scottish  Rifles,  Lieutenant  C.  C.  "Wood  of  the 
North  Lancashires,  and  Lieutenant  J.  L.  Lawlor  of  the  6th 
Inniskilling  Dragoons  vvere  among  the  other  Canadians  killed 
in  the  war.  In  September,  1900,  when  the  struggle  was 
drawing  to  a  close,  the  Canadian  casualties  of  killed,  or  who 
had  died  of  wounds  or  disease,  were  123. 

Othters  had  distinguished  themselves  in  different  ways. 
Lieutenant-Colonel  E.  P.  C.  Girouard  of  the  Royal  Engi- 
neers, in  charge  of  railway  construction,  and  assisted  latterly 
by  Lieutenants  A.  E.  Hodgins  and  C.  J.  Armstrong;  Lieu- 
tenant C.  W.  W.  McLean,  who  was  appointed  A.  D.  C.  on 
the  staff  of  Sir  H.  E.  Colvillc  and  granted  a  commission  in 
the  Royal  Artillery;  Captains  H.  B.  Stairs  and  A.  H.  Mac- 
donell,  specially  mentioned  by  Colonel  Otter  for  personal 
gallantry ;  Lieutenant-Colonel  J.  L.  Biggar  and  Major  J.  C 
McDougall — the  one  D.  A.  A.  G.  for  Canada  at  Cape  Town 
and  the  other  for  Railway  Transport;  Lieutenant  A.  C. 
Caldwell,  in  charge  of  the  mapping  section  of  the  Intelli- 


^^ 


was 
who 


on  in 
Mac- 

rsonal 
J.  C. 

Town 

A.  C. 

^ntelli- 


80UTH    AFRICAN   WAR    AND    IMPERIALISM 


439 


gence  Department;  Lieutenant-Colonel  W.  D.  Gordon  of 
Montreal,  who  acted  as  D.  A.  A.  G.  for  Australasia;  the 
Rev.  P.  M.  O'Leary  of  Quebec,  the  Roman  Catholic  Chap- 
lain of  the  Royal  Canadians,  who  did  much  for  the  sick  and 
wounded — often  under  fire — are  some  of  those  who  had 
heavy  and  responsible  duties  given  them  or  became  prom- 
inent in  various  phases  of  service.  Lieutenant-Colonel  G. 
Sterling  Ryerson,  who  went  to  the  front  as  Canadian  Red 
Cross  Commissioner,  did  some  service  and  received  appoint- 
ment as  a  British  Red  Cross  Commissioner  and  many  subse- 
quent marks  of  appreciation  from  those  in  authority.  Lieu- 
tenant-Colonel Samuel  Hughes  who,  on  account  of  his  early 
insubordination,  did  not  receive  the  regular  appointment 
which  would  otherwise  have  been  his,  went  out  to  South 
Africa  upon  his  own  responsibility  and  was  given  an  oppor- 
tunity to  redeem  himself  by  appointment  to  a  command  un- 
der Sir  Charles  Warren.  He  showed  bravery  and  skill  in 
the  irregular  warfare  of  the  moment,  but  seriously  lost  repu- 
tation by  the  letters  which  he  sent  home  and  by  continued 
bitter  attacks  upon  the  Governor-General  and  General 
Hutton. 

Such  is  the  story  of  the  share  taken  by  Canada  and  Cana- 
dian troops  in  this  eventful  struggle.  It  was  an  important 
share  and  one  entirely  out  of  proportion  to  the  number  of 
men  sent  to  the  front  from  the  Dominion.  To  compare  the 
3,000  Canadians  in  South  Africa  witli  the  15,000  volunteers 
contributed  by  Cape  Colony,  the  5,000  given  by  little  ll^atal, 
or  the  8,000  sent  from  Australasia,  indicates  this  fact.  But 
the  assertion  of  a  new  and  great  principle  of  Imperial  de- 
fence ;  the  revolution  effected  in  methods  of  war  by  the 
proved  and  superior  mobility  of  Colonial  forces  in  the  con- 
test ;  the  actual  achievements  of  the  men  themf^^lves  in  steadi- 
ness, discipline,  and  bravery,  reveal  ample  reasons  for  con- 
sidering the  participation  of  Canada  in  this  war  as  one  of  the 
great  events  of  its  history.  The  conduct  of  all  the  Colonial 
troops  was,  indeed,  sucli  as  to  win  general  praise  ".lia  to  thor- 
oughly warrant  the  statement  in  the  Queen's  Speech  at  the 


I 


lilli 


: 


IIP 
II  1 1 


Eil 


SB 


440 


THF  STORY  OF  THE  DOMINION 


opening  of  the  British  Parliament  on  August  8,  1900,  that 
the  war  "has  placed  in  the  strongest  light  the  heroism  aaci 
high  military  qualities  of  the  troops  brought  together  under 
my  banner  from  this  country,  from  Canada,  Australasia,  and 
my  South  African  Possessions." 


CHAPTER  XXVIII 


A  REVIEW  OF  POPULAR  PROGRESS 


IN  a  country  where  the  traditions  of  the  people  have  been 
chiefly  those  of  other  and  older  lands ;  where  the  history, 
until  within  a  few  generations  of  time,  has  been  one  of 
internal  conflict  between  rival  races  and  foreign  flags ;  where 
the  modem  events  of  development  in  a  constitutional  direc- 
tion and  in  material  welfare  have  been  controlled  by  the 
slowly  merging  antagonisms  of  race  and  religion ;  the  growth 
of  liberty  and  the  matured  practice  of  self-government  have 
naturally  afforded  room  for  interesting  and  stirring  experi- 
ences. Add  to  these  considerations  vast  and  almost  unknown 
areas,  immense  diflficulties  of  transportation  and  trade,  the 
competition  of  a  great  southern  neighbor  of  not  always 
friendly  tendencies,  the  continued  arrival  throughout  half 
a  century  of  hundreds  of  thousands  of  people  with  diverse 
tastes  and  politics  and  various  degrees  of  knowledge  or  igno- 
rance, and  the  position  grows  in  interest  and  importance. 

With  the  nineteenth  century  commenced  the  constitutional 
history  of  Canada.  To  the  British  subject  and  elector  of  the 
end  of  that  century  it  is  difficult  to  clearly  comprehend  the 
situation  in  those  olden  days.  Newspapers  were  so  few  as  to 
be  of  little  influence.  Books  were  scarce,  valuable,  and  of 
.1  character  not  calculated  to  throw  light  upon  existing  prob- 
lems. The  people  of  Lower  Canada  were  wrapped  up  in  the 
traditions  and  surroundings  of  many  years  before,  and,  under 
the  British  flag,  were  fondly  nursing  the  ideas  and  ideals  of 
Old  France  in  the  days  of  Louis  XIV ;  of  New  France  in  the 


A   REVIEW   OF  POPULAR   PROGRESS 


441 


days  of  Montcalm  and  the  earlier  period  and  glories  of  Fron- 
tenac.  The  people  of  the  English  Provinces  were  still  little 
more  than  isolated  pioneer  settlers  steeped  in  the  shadowed 
memories  of  a  past  struggle  for  King  and  institutions  and 
country;  imbittered  against  all  republican  or  democratic  ten- 
dencies; prejudiced,  naturally  and  inevitably,  against  the  Kad- 
icals  of  England  who  had  helped  to  ruin  the  Eoyal  cause  in 
the  Thirteen  Colonies,  and  against  the  French  of  Quebec  who 
had  been  so  long  the  traditional  enemies  of  England  and  the 
sincere  foes  of  British  supremacy  in  North  America.  To 
them,  all  new-comers,  whether  the  later  Loyalists  from  the 
States,  or  immigrants  of  subsequent  years  from  the  Old  Land, 
were  subjects  of  suspicion  as  being  possibly  alien  in  origin, 
or  indifferent  in  sentiment  to  their  own  sacrifices  and  their 
own  sacred  political  beliefs.  To  the  French  Canadians,  all 
immigrants  were  equally  undesirable  as  being  practically 
certain  to  possess  religious  and  racial  differentiation  from 
themselves. 

THE  EVOLUTION  OF  CANADIAN  PARTIES 

Into  this  peculiar  mass  of  varied  interests  and  antagonistic 
feelings  came  the  leaven  of  a  constitutional  and  Parliamen- 
tary system.  It  did  not  develop  from  within.  It  was  not  the 
result  of  popular  evolution  or  even  of  popular  desire.  The 
French  Canadians  accepted  it  as  an  external  part  of  their 
new  situation,  a  political  appanage  to  the  Conquest ;  while  the 
Loyalists  of  the  other  Provinces  did  not  really  want  it  and 
would  probably  have  been  quite  satisfied  for  many  years  to 
come  with  able  Governors  and  reasonably  efficient  local  ad- 
visers. Still,  the  latter  knew  how  to  use  it  when  received 
and  were  more  or  less  familiar  with  the  underlying  principles 
of  a  Legislature  and  free  government.  Wlien,  however,  in- 
creasing population  brought  varied  political  sentiments  and 
personalities  into  conflict  with  the  Loyalists,  the  inevitable 
result  followed  and  a  dominant  class  found  itself  in  collision 
with  a  dominating  people  who  cared  more  for  the  present 
than  the  past,  more  for  phantasms  of  liberty  than  memoriei 


1 


li       "i 


I 


442 


THE  STORY  OF   THE   DOMINION 


of  loyalty,  more  for  a  share  in  the  government  of  the  country 
than  for  abstract  justice  to  the  men  who  had  in  great  measure 
made  the  country.  In  Lower  Canada,  as  elsewhere  pointed 
out,  the  Legislature  soon  became  merely  a  weapon  of  offence 
against  everything  British ;  and  the  external  institution 
foisted  upon  a  people  who  understood  autocracy  better  than 
the  simplest  principle  of  freedom,  and  who  had  not  even 
practiced  the  most  rudimentary  elements  of  municipal  self- 
government,  was  adapted  to  the  exigences  of  racial  feeling 
with  a  facility  which  reflects  credit  upon  French-Canadian 
quickness  of  perception  while  fully  illustrating  the  racial 
prejudices  of  the  people.  Out  of  these  conditions  came  the 
Eebellion  of  183Y,  the  troubles  of  1849,  and  the  struggles 
of  the  "Sixties." 

At  the  beginning  of  the  century  Toryism  was  dominant; 
at  the  end  of  the  century  democracy  governs.  Which  was  the 
better  ?  The  average  writer  will  unhesitatingly  say  that  the 
rule  of  the  people,  by  the  people,  is  the  accredited  dictum  of 
his  age  and  the  only  just  principle  of  government.  But  the 
admission  of  the  fact  that  popular  rule  is  wise  and  right  in 
1900  does  not  interfere  with  a  perception  that,  under  vastly 
different  conditions,  other  forms  and  systems  in  1800  may 
also  have  been  wise  and  proper  for  the  time  being.  The  gov- 
ernment by  a  class  in  the  English  Provinces  and  in  days  when 
that  class  represented  the  loyal  and  pioneer  population  of  the 
coimtry,  and  ruled  it  in  accordance  with  the  hereditary  senti- 
ments of  the  majority  was  not  in  itself  unjust  in  practice  or 
despotic  in  principle.  The  resistance  of  that  class  to  inno- 
vation and  democracy  was  natural  and  probably  wise  at  a 
time  when  these  things  meant  American  ideas  and  the  dan- 
gers of  American  propaganda  in  a  small  and  weak  commu- 
nity. The  rule  of  a  few  leading  families  of  experience  and 
knowledge  in  days  of  scattered  settlers  and  isolated  homes 
and  general  poverty  was  in  itself  a  benefit.  In  Lower  Canada 
the  English  settlers  were  the  only  class  trained  in  the  self- 
government  which  had  been  meted  out  in  a  measure  as  large 
as  was  thought  to  be  safe  and  wise  and  which  was  really  too 


li  I 


A    REVIEW   OF   POPULAR   PROGRESS 


443 


large  for  the  occasion.  They  were  the  only  element,  outside 
of  a  few  Seigneurs,  who  were  in  any  way  fitted  for  adminis- 
tration and  justice  and  the  making  of  impartial  laws — as 
the  subsequent  adventures  of  the  French  Assembly  clearly 
prove. 

Moreover,  if  this  class  Government  of  1800  was  a  selfish 
one  in  some  respects  it  was  not  any  more  so  than  a  partisan 
Government  in  1900  would  be.  If  it  chose  associates  from, 
and  filled  appointments  with,  its  relatives  and  friends,  the 
sin  was  no  greater  than  that  of  any  Canadian  Government 
of  a  hundred  years  later.  If  it  fought  strenuously  and  sin- 
cerely, in  all  the  Provinces,  for  British  institutions  as  then 
understood  and  for  the  British  connection  which  it  regarded  as 
a  child  does  its  mother,  who  is  there  in  1900  that  can  throw 
stones  at  it  ?  Faults  and  flounderings  there  were  in  the  Tory- 
ism of  1800,  but  if  we  measure  it  in  accordance  with  its  pio- 
neer surroundings  and  limited  resources  we  must  conclude 
that  those  results  were  no  more  serious  in  bulk  or  conse- 
quences than  are  the  faults  and  flounderings  of  the  democ- 
racy of  1900.  And  between  the  two  lie  a  hundred  years  of 
struggle  and  evolution,  of  growing  wealth  and  increased  popu- 
lar intelligence.  ,        ^., .^,...,  ...-■,,--,..■.„,,-.. .^  ,..^...  ........;... ..   ., 

CANADIAN  POLITIC AL  LEADERS 

The  leadery  of  the  century,  the  rulers  )f  the  people,  have, 
however,  greatly  changed  in  character  o)  3  scope  of  culture 
as  the  country  has  slowly  broadened  out  from  Colonies  into 
Provinces,  from  Provinces  into  a  Dominion,  from  a  Domin- 
ion into  a  British  nation.  The  early  leaders  of  the  Canadas 
such  as  William  Smith,  Jonathan  Sewell,  John  Beverley 
Robinson,  and  Isaac  Allen  were  steeped  to  the  lips  in  mem- 
ories of  the  Thirteen  Colonies  and  the  Revolution.  Later 
Tory  leaders  such  as  Bishop  Strachaw,  Sir  Allan  N.  McNab, 
William  Henry  Draper,  Henry  Sherwood,  and  William  Cay- 
ley  were  equally  instinct  with  the  traditions  of  English  life 
as  found  in  the  pages  of  history  and  the  knowledge  of  Cana- 
dian adherents.     Many  of  these  men  were  cultured  gentlemen 


444 


THE  STOBY   OF   THE   DOMINION 


in  the  best  English  sense  of  the  word,  as  were  also  Robert 
Baldwin,  Francis  Hincks,  and  such  French  Canadians  as  Sir 
L,  H.  Lafontaine,  Sir  A.  A.  Dorion,  and  Sir  E.  P.  Tache. 
They  strove  to  imitate  English  manners  and  customs  as  far  as 
possible,  and  many  leaders  of  French  extraction  added  a  most 
useful  element  of  courtesy  and  grace  to  the  politics  and  social 
life  of  the  young  and  struggling  community.  On  the  other 
hand,  many  of  the  French-Canadian  leaders  of  the  first  half 
of  the  century  were  steeped  in  the  traditions  of  French  life, 
the  affiliations  of  French  literature,  and  the  elements  of 
French  thought.  They  followed  the  democracy  of  republi- 
can France — with  a  dash  of  republican  America  as  one  of 
the  constituents  of  theory  and  policy.  Canada  as  a  national 
entity  was,  of  course,  not  in  existence  and  the  culture  of  the 
mixed  community  was,  therefore,  either  French  or  English, 
with  a  strong  additional  independent  element — as  the  years 
advanced  toward  the  beginning  of  the  second  half  of  the  cen- 
tury— of  something  that  was  purely  American  in  style  and 
type.  .> 

.V  In  the  year  1900  it  is  almost  a  question  which  of  all  these 
elements  is  uppermost  in  the  peculiar  condition  of  affairs 
embodied  in  the  name  Canadian.  There  is  a  strong  and  pro- 
nounced Canadian  sentiment  among  the  people  which  has 
largely  overcome  and  destroyed,  in  their  politicians  and  lead- 
ers, the  extraneous  tendencies  of  opinion  known  as  French, 
or  English,  or  American.  At  the  same  time  the  bulk  of  the 
population  is  British  in  its  loyalty  and  increasingly  Impe- 
rialistic in  opinion — a  sentiment  grading  upward  from  the 
passiveness  of  Quebec  to  the  enthusiasm  of  Toronto,  or  Vic- 
toria, or  Halifax.  The  culture  of  the  community  has  be- 
come, nominally,  a  local  culture.  It  chiefly  emanates  from 
local  Universities  and  in  politics  is  made  to  fit  local  feel- 
ings. But  the  general  tendency  has  been  to  malie  this  cul- 
ture American  in  style  and  character.  Canadian  Universi- 
ties are  largely  affected  by  American  influences,  as  is  the 
whole  educational  system  of  the  country.  The  press  is  Amer- 
ican in  type  and  utterly  opposed  in  principles  of  management 


A    REVIEW  OF  POPULAR   PROGRESS 


44C^ 


to  the  English  model.  The  politics  of  the  Dominion  are  run 
upon  lines  about  half-way  between  the  antagonistic  systems 
of  Great  Britain  and  the  United  States.  The  speech,  man- 
ner, and  style  of  its  public  men  are  essentially  American 
and  the  social  character  of  the  community  more  nearly  ap- 
proximates to  that  type  than  to  any  other. 

Canadian  leaders  of  the  last  half  of  the  century  have  been 
very  different  in  type  from  their  fellow-leaders  at  the  heart 
of  the  Empire.  Few  of  them  have  even  had  the  culture  of 
old-time  gentlemen  such  as  Robinson  or  Sewell.  None  of 
them  has  shown  the  varied  accomplishments  now  so  common 
among  the  statesmen  of  Great  Britain,  where  a  Salisbury  is 
devoted  to  science,  a  Rosebery  has  written  one  of  the  most 
eloquent  little  books  of  the  century;,  a  Balfour  has  won  iame 
as  a  philosophic  writer,  and  a  Gladstone  has  distinguished 
himself  in  almost  innumerable  fields  of  attainment.  Lack 
of  time,  and  the  fact  of  having  to  make  a  living  when  out  of 
office,  together  with  the  receipt  of  small  salaries  when  in  office, 
are  the  real  reasons  for  this  condition  of  affairs.  In  Eng- 
land it  is  an  everyday  matter  for  some  leading  public  man  to 
speak  at  length,  and  with  evident  learning,  upon  questions 
of  literature,  art,  sociology,  philosophy,  and  the  progress,  or 
otherwise,  of  all  the  varied  elements  of  a  complex  civilization. 
A"S  yet  Canada  has  not  approached  this  level,  though  signs 
have  not  been  wanting  toward  the  end  of  the  century  that  the 
Dominion  is  slowly  growing  upward  in  culture  as  in  other 
matters.  And,  even  now,  it  is  greatly  superior  in  the  style 
of  its  public  men  to  the  position  of  Australasian  leaders.   '^^ 

In  other  respects  Canadian  leaders  differ  from  those  of 
earlier  years.  With  all  their  wider  outlook,  and  the  Impe- 
rial position  which  the  Dominion  has  latterly  attained,  they 
still  remain  somewhat  narrow  in  conception,  while  the  neces- 
sity of  conciliating  rival  races  and  religions  has  developed 
an  extreme  opportunism.  The  latter  quality  has  come  to 
them  in  part  from  over  the  American  border;  in  part  from 
the  peculiar  nature  of  the  mixed  Canadian  democracy;  in 
part  from  the  brilliant  example  in   details   and  methods, 


\ 


inn 


■.  J, 


446 


THE  STORY   OF   THE  DOMINION 


though  not  really  in  principles,  of  Sir  John  A.  Macdonald. 
The  British  practice  of  holding  certain  political  convictions, 
in  oiRce  or  out  of  it,  and  of  willingly  surrendering  power  if 
anything  happens  to  change  those  convictions,  has  not  pre- 
vailed in  Canada  to  anything  like  a  general  extent  since  the 
days  of  responsible  government.  Sir  John  Macdonald,  it  is 
true,  had  certain  defined  and  prominent  principles — British 
connection,  protection,  opposition  to  American  union  of  any 
kind — but  outside  of  these  he  was  quite  willing  to  modify  his 
opinions  in  order  to  forward  the  interests  of  his  party.  It 
was  not  so  in  the  earlier  days  of  Canada ;  it  is  not  so  in  the 
later  days  of  England,  where  a  Hartington,  or  Bright,  or 
Chamberlain  has  sacrificed  his  party  feelings  and  associations 
and  apparent  future  in  order  to  oppose  the  new  and  danger- 
ous proposals  of  a  great  popular  leader  such  as  Gladstone. 

Still,  the  politics  of  Canada,  with  all  their  admitted  ele- 
ments of  weakness,  do  not,  at  the  end  of  the  century,  merit 
pessimistic  consideration.  Sir  John  Macdonald  may  have 
been  an  opportunist  in  minor  matters,  but  it  is  more  than 
probable  that  Canada  would  not  be  a  national  unit  and  a  power 
in  the  Empire  to-day  if  he  had  not  combined  opportunism 
with  the  higher  methods  of  statesmanship.  Sir  John  Thomp- 
son, during  his  nine  years  of  Dominion  public  life,  gave  the 
country  a  career  of  sterling  honesty  and  won  a  reputation  for 
political  integrity  which  deserves  the  appreciation  of  poster- 
ity as  it  certainly  conferred  credit  upon  the  Dominion  of  his 
too-brief  day.  Sir  Leonard  Tilley  combined  undoubted  per- 
sonal honor  with  rare  qualities  of  speech  and  manner  and 
heart.  „..,;^.-..-,.^..:., 

Sir  Oliver  Mowat,  during  his  almost  quarter  of  a  century 
of  Premiership  in  the  Province  of  Ontario,  displayed  quali- 
ties of  tact  and  conciliation  which  rose  to  the  level  of  states- 
manship. Sir  Adolphe  Chapleau,  during  his  long  career  in 
the  politics  of  Quebec  and  Canada,  developed  a  character  that 
was  curiously  compounded  of  political  selfishness  and  indif- 
ference to  some  of  the  higher  principles  of  public  life,  with 
an  eloquence  which  was  so  great  as  to  stamp  him  a  bom 


4    REVIEW  OF  POPULAR   PROGRESS 


447 


leader  of  men.  Sir  Charles  Tupper  has  contributed  to  Cana- 
dian history  an  element  of  fore?  a  character  of  determina- 
tion, and  a  career  of  consistent  poliiical  labor  -which  marks 
him  out  ac  a  rnan  worthy  of  high  place  in  any  country's  Val- 
halla of  eminence.  The  Hon.  George  Eulas  Foster  has  given 
to  the  later  years  of  Dominion  politics  an  eloquence  of  speech 
and  debate  which  it  is  difficult  to  find  the  equal  in  Canadian 
history — unless  it  be  the  case  of  Joseph  Howe.  Sir  Wilfrid 
Laurier,  the  first  Liberal  Premier  of  Canada  since  the  days 
of  Mackenzie,  is  an  undoubted  opportunist  in  politics,  but  he 
is  also  one  of  the  most  picturesque  figures  in  the  public  life 
of  the  Empire.  Handsome,  eloquent  in  French  and  English, 
graceful  in  manner  and  bearing,  cultured  in  language  and 
attainment,  he  is  a  man  of  whose  personality  the  country  has 
reason  to  be  proud.  Sir  Richard  Cartwright  is  of  a  very  dif- 
ferent type,  and  one  of  the  very  few  Canadian  politicians 
whose  oratory  approximates  to  the  English  style,  and  whose 
references  and  similes  indicate  wide  knowledge  and  reading. 
Upon  the  whole,  it  is  apparent  that,  while  Canadian  poli- 
tics are  on  a  lower  level  than  those  in  England,  they  are  upon 
a  much  higher  plane  than  in  the  United  States  or  Australia, 
It  is  also  clear  that,  while  political  leaders  have  changed 
greatly  from  the  type  of  rulers  living  in  the  beginning  of  the 
century,  and  have  not  yet  developed  the  culture  of  older 
lands  and  wider  opportunities,  they  have  managed  to  more 
than  hold  their  own  upon  this  continent,  and  are  now,  at  the 
end  of  the  century,  rapidly  developing  along  lines  of  political 
action  which  must,  more  and  more,  bring  them  into  touch 
with  the  world-wide  interests,  politics,  and  rule  of  the  Mother- 
land. This  will  probably  produce  a  higher  form  of  political 
life  and  individual  culture  in  the  future,  though  its  attain- 
ment must  be  preceded  by  the  creation  of  a  more  truly  Cana- 
dian press  and  the  establishment  of  a  news  system  which 
does  not  leave  the  daily  intellectual  food  of  the  Canadian 
people  in  American  hands,  or  British  and  Imperial  public 
affairs  to  be  dealt  with  from  a  naturally  alien  and  unsympa- 
thetic point  of  view. 


k 


i- 


448 


THE  STORY   OF   THE   DOMINION 


DEVELOPMENT  OF  EDUCATION 

During  the  century  which  constitutes  the  developing  period 
of  Canadian  history,  as  distinct  from  its  picturesque  and 
military  periods,  education  has  gone  through  various  stages 
of  growtli.  In  Quebec  it  was  at  first  essentially  a  religious 
and  ecclesiastical  system,  controlled  by  priests  and  nuns  and 
institutions  under  the  leadership  of  the  Church.  Much  of 
it  was  of  the  higher,  or  collegiate,  type,  and  intended  prima- 
rily for  the  training  of  religions  teachers.  The  attempts  at 
establishing  a  general  school  system  prior  to  the  Kebellion,  in 
1837,  were  tentative  and  feeble,  even  among  the  small  En- 
glish population;  and  such  schools  as  were  in  existence  met 
with  disaster  in  the  times  of  trouble  immediately  preceding 
and  succeeding  the  insurrection.  The  teachers  of  the  day 
were  needy  and  illiterate,  the  supervision  careless  and  dis- 
honest, the  school-houses  dirty  and,  in  winter,  very  cold,  the 
children  unpro-ided  with  books,  and  the  parents  singularly 
indifferent.*  After  the  union  with  Upper  Canada  legisla- 
tion of  various  kinds  and  degrees  of  value  followed,  and,  be- 
tween 1853  and  1861,  the  pupils  in  Lower  Canadian  educa- 
tional institutions  of  all  kinds  increased  from  108,000  to 
180,000,  and  the  assessments  and  fees  for  their  support  rose 
from  $165,000  to  $526,000. 

Meanwhile,  the  Roman  Catholic  religious  bodies  of  the 
Province  had  increased  greatly  in  educational  strength  and 
efficiency — especially  the  higher  institutions  of  instruction. 
They  possessed  at  least  2,000,000  acres  of  land,  some  of  it 
in  the  heart  of  Montreal  and  other  growing  centres,  which 
developed  wealth  by  every  year's  growth  of  the  country. 
Colleges  for  this  kind  of  teaching  were  founded  at  Quebec, 
Montreal,  L'Assomption,  Joliette,  Levis,  Nicolet,  Kigaud, 
Rimouski,  Ste.  Anne,  St.  Hyacinthe,  St.  Laurent,  Rouville, 
Terrebonne,  and  other  places.  In  1854,  Laval  University 
was  inaugurated  at  Quebec  and  later  on  was  also  established 

*  Arthur  Bullet.     "Report  upon  Education  in  the  Province  of  Que- 
bec."    1838. 


{   I 


A    REVIEW  OF  POPULAR   PROGRESS 


449 


in  Montreal.  From  its  scholastic  halls  have  come  most  of 
the  rulers  and  leaders  of  French  Canada  since  that  time. 
Three  years  later  Normal  Schools  were  established  for  the 
training  of  teachers,  and,  in  1854,  a  Council  of  Public  In- 
struction was  organized,  with  eleven  Catholics  and  four  Prot- 
estants in  its  membership.  Out  of  this  development  came  a 
oommon  or  public  school  system  which  slowly  improved  until, 
in  1875 — eight  years  after  Confederation,  when  education 
had  been  placed  in  the  hands  of  the  Provincial  Governments 
— legislation,  initiated  by  M.  de  Boucherville,  along  the  lines 
which  had  been  slowly  evolved  by  Dr.  Jean  Baptiste  Mcilleur 
and  the  Hon.  P.  J.  O.  Chauveau  in  two  preceding  decades, 
established  the  existing  system.  •? 

At  the  end  of  the  century  this  system  is  notable  as  having 
been  created  in  a  Province  dominated  by  one  race  and  religion 
and  yet  conceived  and  practiced  in  almost  perfect  fairness 
toward  the  minority.  The  Superintendent  of  Public  Instruc- 
tion has  usually  held  office  for  many  years  in  succession  and 
has  been  fairly  independent  of  political  parties.  The  Cath- 
olic and  Protestant  elements  of  the  population  have  separate 
Sections  of  the  Council  of  Public  Instruction  and  they  ad- 
minister the  funds  provided  so  as  to  suit  the  different  ideas 
and  ideals  of  their  people.  The  Province  boasts  of  seventeen 
colleges  founded  and  maintained  by  the  Roman  Catholic 
clergy.  It  has  McGill  University  as  the  centre  of  its  En- 
glish-speaking education  during  fifty  years — much  of  the  time 
under  the  administration  and  management  of  the  late  Sir 
William  Dawson — and  now  developed  into  one  of  the  great 
Universities  of  the  British  Empire.  The  standard  of  su- 
perior education  in  the  Province  is  high;  the  standard  of 
education  in  its  more  preliminary  forms  is  improving;  the 
teaching  Orders  of  women  who  instruct  pupils,  numbering, 
in  1896,  over  37,000,  in  domestic  economy  as  well  as  in 
ordinary  accomplishments,  are  doing  most  useful  work;  the 
number  of  children  attending  schools  of  all  kinds  has  in- 
creased from  212,000  in  1867  to  307,000  in  1897. 

In  the  other  Provinces  there  has  been  no  racial  division 


450 


THE   STORY   OF   THE   DOMINION 


among  the  people,  but  there  were,  at  first,  the  inevitable 
difficulties  of  pioneer  life,  poverty  of  resource,  and  distances 
in  space.  Isolation  and  lack  of  money  produced  paucity  of 
schools  everywhere  and  poorness  of  teaching  wherever  they 
did  exist.  Dr.  John  Strachan,  Bishop  and  politician  and 
polemist,  was  practically  the  pioneer  of  education  in  Upper 
Canada.  Out  of  his  school  at  Cornwell  came  the  leading  men 
of  the  early  days  and  from  his  conception  of  sectarian,  or 
Church  of  England  education,  came  greater  institutions  of 
learning  in  Toronto — the  Upper  Canada  College,  King's  Col- 
lege, which  was  afterward  secularized  as  the  University  of 
Toronto,  and  Trinity  College,  which  he  then  established  as 
an  educational  centre  for  his  cherished  Church. 

Contemporary  with  him  in  part,  and  living  and  working 
after  him,  was  Dr.  Egerton  Ryerson,  the  modern  organizer 
of  the  public  school  system  of  Ontario,  the  vigorous  and 
devoted  champion  of  popular  education  and  common  schools. 
At  first,  in  Upper  Canada  and  down  by  the  Atlantic,  as  in 
Quebec,  inst'  iction  in  its  simpler  forms  was  greatly  neg- 
lected. Long  after  the  people  had  passed  out  of  their  pioneer 
position  and  the  excuse  of  poor  roads  or  no  roads,  and  of 
poverty,  or  lack  of  public  organization,  was  removed  from 
valid  consideration,  they  seemed  to  remain  indifferent,  in 
all  the  English  Provinces,  to  the  education  of  children  and 
to  be  much  more  inclined  to  lavish  money  and  attention  upon 
Colleges  and  higher  branches  of  learning.  The  log  school- 
Louse  of  early  days,  the  painfully  inadequate  accommodation 
for  the  pupils^  the  ignorant  and  sometimes  intemperatv '  teach- 
ers, remained  public  evils,  in  at  least  the  two  latter  par- 
ticulars, well  up  to  the  end  of  the  first  half  of  the  century. 
^.vTadually  and  eventually,  a  chf  ige  for  the  better  took  place. 
Dr  Ryers*>n  worked  wonder?  in  Upper  Canada.  His  School 
Act  of  1850,  followed  by  the  establishment  of  Separate 
Catholic  Schools,  in  1802,  laid  the  foundation  of  the 
'Existing  system  which  the  sweeping  legislation  of  1871 
altered  greatly  in  detail  without  aiTecting  seriously  in  prin- 
ciple. 


A    REVIEW   OF  POPULAR    PROGRESS 


451 


In  1876  the  important  change  was  made  of  placing  the 
Education  Department  in  charge  of  a  responsible  member 
of  the  Provincial  Government  and,  between  that  time  and 
1883,  it  was  under  the  control  of  the  Hon.  Adam  Crooks. 
His  successor  was  the  Hon.  George  W.  Ross,  who  held  the 
position  until  his  accession  to  the  Premiership  of  the  Prov- 
ince in  1899.  Progress  from  the  middle  of  the  century  on- 
ward had  been  very  marked.  Between  1850  and  1871  the 
teachers  in  the  public  schools  increased  by  2,000  in  num- 
ber and  the  attendi.nce  of  pupils  by  100,000.  Between  the 
latter  date  and  1896  the  teachers  increased  from  5,306  to 
8,988  and  the  average  attendance  of  pupils  from  188,000 
to  271,000.  More  important  still,  perhaps,  the  standard  of 
education  grow  better  and  better  until  the  public  schools 
were  fully  established  in  a  position  of  equality  with  other 
departments  of  study  and  as  a  part  of  a  great  educational 
chain  in  which  the  links  were  the  elementary  or  public 
schools,  the  high  schools,  the  normal  schools  for  teachers, 
the  Colleges  and  Universities. 

Sectarian  higher  education  had,  meanwhile,  grown  greatly 
in  popularity  and  power  in  Ontario.  Besides  the  University 
of  Toronto,  which  was  secular  in  its  control  and  instruction, 
though  originally  sectarian,  and  Trinity  College,  which  was 
Anglican  in  support  and  policy,  the  Presbyterians  had  started 
Knox  College  at  Toronto  and  Queen's  University  at  Kingston 
— the  latter  a  notable  institution  in  the  concluding  quarter 
of  the  century  under  the  control  of  Principal  George  Monro 
Grant;  the  Methodists  founded  Albert  College  at  Belleville, 
which,  in  time,  joined  ^\dth  Victoria  College  of  Cobourg,  as  a 
federated  institution  and  later  on  became  Victoria  University^ 
of  Toronto;  the  Baptists  established  McMaster  University  in 
Toronto,  and  the  Roman  Catholics  founded  in  succession, 
Regiopolis  College  at  Kingston  and  the  University  of  Ottawa 
at  Ottawa. 

In  th3  Maritime  Provinces  early  conditions  were  very 
similar  to  those  of  Upper  Canada  or  Ontario.  There  was 
the  same   poverty  in  school  arrangements  and  paucity  in 


1. :  ■ 

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452 


THE   STORY    OF   THE   DOMINION 


teaching  talent  or  training.  There  was  the  same  indifference 
shown  among  the  masses  of  the  people  toward  elementary 
education  and  the  same  tendency  among  the  rulers  and  upper 
classes  to  promote  higher  education  and  collegiate  institutions. 
King's  College  at  Windsor,  Nova  Scotia,  was  organized  as 
far  back  as  1788;  the  University  of  Nevtr  Brunswick  was 
founded  at  Fredericton  in  the  first  year  of  the  century; 
Dalhousie  University  was  established  at  Halifax  under  the 
auspices  of  the  Earl  of  Dalhousie  in  1821;  Acadia  College, 
Wolfville,  was  formed  in  1838,  as  the  educational  centre 
of  the  Baptists  and  as  a  protest  against  the  Church  of  Eng- 
land associations  of  all  the  other  Colleges.  Mount  Allison 
College,  Sackville,  N.  B.,  was  founded  by  the  Methodists 
in  1843,  and  the  Presbyterian  College  at  Halifax  in  1820. 
In  Nova  Scotia,  the  Rev.  Dr.  Thomas  McCulloch,  and  in 
New  Brunswick,  the  Rev.  Dr,  Edwin  Jacob  did  continuous 
and  splendid  service  to  this  cause  of  higher  education.  The 
elementary  system  developed  more  slowly.  Nova  Scotia  pos- 
sessed only  217  schools  and  5,514  pupils  in  1824,  spent  upon 
'hoir  less  than  $50,000  and  voted  down  more  than  one  measure 
for  taxing  the  people  in  their  support.  In  1850,  however,  Mr. 
(atterward  Sir)  J .  W.  Dawson  was  appointed  the  first  Super- 
intendent of  Education  in  the  Province.  Progress  then  bo- 
came  more  rapid  and  improved  methods  of  teaching  and  plans 
of  building  were  developed.  He  was  succeeded  in  1855  by 
the  Rev.  Dr.  Alexander  Forrester,  and,  in  1864,  the  Hon. 
Dr.  Tupper  introduced  in  the  Legislature  of  Nova  Scotia 
his  famouf^  measure  establishing  free  schools  and  a  general 
public  assessment  for  their  maintenance.  Ho  fought  the  Bill 
through  successfully,  but  the  impopularity  of  the  <^irect  taxa- 
tion involved  defeated  liim  at  the  ensuing  electioub. 

The  system,  however,  was  established,  and,  under  the  suc- 
ceeding management  of  the  Rev.  A.  S.  Hunt,  Dr.  Theodore 
H.  Rand,  Dr.  David  Allison,  and  Dr.  Alexander  H.  MacKay, 
becamo  eminently  successful.  The  number  of  teachers  rose 
from  916  in  1865  to  2,438  in  1896,  the  average  daily  attend- 
ance of  j>ppils  from  23,572  to  53,023,  the  popular  assessment 


X 


A    REVIEW    OF   POPULAR    PROGRESS 


453 


fo»  expenses  from  $124,000  to  $450,000,  the  Provincial 
grant  from  $87,000  to  $242,000.  The  Council  of  Public  In- 
struction is  composed  of  five  members  of  the  Government 
and  the  Superintendent  of  Education  is  a  non-political  ad- 
ministrator of  the  Department  under  their  general  control. 
Separate  schools  have  never  been  organized  in  Nova  Scotia 
under  Provincial  auspices,  although  the  Catholics  have  an 
efficient  system  of  higher  education  including  St.  Francois 
Xavier  College  at  Antigonish  and  the  College  of  Ste.  Anne 
at  Church  Point. 

In  New  Brunswick,  for  many  years  after  the  beginning  of 
the  century,  teac^^ers'  salaries  remained  so  small  and  the  po- 
sition was  so  unQxgnified — as  a  result  of  the  universal  cus- 
tom in  pioneer  Canada  of  ''boarding  around"  at  the  houses 
of  the  school  patrons  so  as  to  eke  out  meagre  remuneration 
— that  good  men  would  have  nothing  to  do  with  the  profes- 
sion. As  late  as  1845  teachers'  wages  averaged  $125  a  year 
in  this  Province  and  much  of  that  miserable  sum  was  not 
paid  in  cash.  In  this  year,  however,  matters  seem  to  have 
come  to  a  head,  a  Committee  of  the  Legislature  was  ap- 
pointed to  investigate  the  condition  of  education  in  the  Prov- 
ince and  two  years  later  an  effort  was  made  to  establish  an 
organized  system.  In  1852  a  Superintendent  was  appointed 
and  in  1858  further  legislation  took  place.  But  it  appeared 
impossible  to  change  the  apathy  and  indifference  of  the  peo- 
ple. Though  they  were  fighting  bitter  sectarian  contests 
over  Universities  and  Test  Acts  and  higher  education,  they 
refused  to  take  any  interest  in,  or  tax  themselves  for,  the  ele- 
mentary teaching  of  their  children. 

In  1871,  therefore,  it  was  decided  to  establish  free  schools 
and  compulsory  attendance,  and  to,  at  the  same  time,  abolish 
all  religious  teaching.  This  latter  action  was  a  distinct  blow 
to  the  Catholic  Separate  Schools,  which  had  practically  de- 
veloped, and  was,  of  course,  strongly  resented  by  the  people 
of  that  Church.  The  measure  passed,  iiowever,  and  stands 
as  greatly  to  the  credit  of  the  Hon.  George  E.  King,  then 
Premier  of  the  Province  and  afterward  Justice  of  the  Su- 


■i:'  : 

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454 


THE  STORY  OF   TEE  DOMINION 


preme  Court  at  Ottawa,  as  does  the  preceding  establishment 
of  free  schools  in  'Novo.  Scotia  to  the  credit  of  Sir  Charles 
Tupper.  The  system  is  much  the  same  as  in  the  latter  Prov- 
ince, and  has  been  presided  over  since  18T1  by  Dr.  Theodore 
H.  Rand,  William  Crocket,  and  Dr.  James  R.  Inch.  From 
1872  to  1897  the  number  of  schools  increased  from  884  to 
1,737,  the  teachers  from  918  to  1,829,  and  the  pupils  from 
39,000  to  61,000. 

In  little  Prince  Edward  Island  conditions  were  not  differ- 
ent in  early  times  from  those  in  the  larger  Provinces,  and  it 
was  not  until  1825  that  its  first  Education  Act  was  passed. 
The  year  1852  saw  the  eRtablishment  of  a  free  school  system 
and,  in  1860,  the  Prince  of  Wales'  College  was  opened  at 
Charlottetown.  There  were  121  schools  in  1841  and  531  in 
1891 ;  4,356  pupils  in  the  former  year  and22,138in  the  latter. 
To  sum  up  the  situation  in  these  Provinces,  it  may  be  said 
that  everywhere  prior  to  Confederation  similar  conditions 
existed  and  evervAvhere  the  same  beneficial  results  have  since 

t. 

followed  the  establishment  of  free  schools,  the  formation  of 
Normal  Schools  for  the  training  of  teachers,  the  taxation  of 
the  people  for  educational  matters,  their  enforced  interest 
in  school  affairs,  and  the  elevation  and  increased  dignity 
given  to  the  teaching  profession. 

Development  along  these  lines  in  the  l^orth-West  and  Brit- 
ish Columbia  was  naturally  an  affair  of  comparatively  recent 
times.  Such  education  as  there  was  in  earlier  days  came 
through  the  devoted  activities  of  pioneer  missionaries,  such 
as  the  ministers  of  the  Red  River  Settlement,  Fathers  Tache 
and  Provencher,  the  Rev.  John  West,  the  Rev.  Dr.  John 
Black,  and  many  others  who  spread  themselves  in  a  thin  line 
of  labor  and  self-sacrifice  over  a  vast  extent  of  territory 
stretching  to  the  Pacific  Ocean.  In  M.^nitoba  the  system 
since  1890  has  been  a  free  school  and  undenominational  one. 
There  were  sixteen  Protestant  schools  in  1877  and  seventeen 
Catholic  schools,  and,  in  1890,  these  had  increased  to  628  and 
91  respectively.  Since  the  new  system  was  inaugurated 
considerable  progress  has  been  made,  and,  in  1897,  there  were 


A    REVIEW   OF  POPULAR    PROGRESS 


455 


1,018  public  schools  with  an  expenditure  of  $810,000.  The 
system  in  the  Territories  includes  a  Council  of  Public  In- 
struction of  a  somewhat  mixed  character  and  of  very  recent 
formation.  There  are  four  members  of  the  Government  upon 
the  Council  and  four  appointed  members  from  outside — two 
Protestants  and  two  Catholics.  Progress  has  been  excellent, 
especially  in  view  of  the  immense  areas  under  Territorial 
jurisdiction,  and  the  schools  in  operation  have  increased,  be- 
tween 1886  and  1896,  from  76  to  366 ;  the  enrolled  pupils 
from  2,553  to  12,796;  the  teachers  from  84  to  433  and  Leg- 
islative expenditure  from  $8,900  to  $126,000. 

British  Columbia  had  practically  no  educational  system 
prior  to  1^72.  Up  to  that  time  both  the  earlier  efforts  of  the 
Hudson's  Bay  Company  on  Vancouver  Island  and  the  later 
ones  of  the  Legislature  had  been  unsuccessful.  The  Public 
School  Act  of  the  year  mentioned,  however,  established  a  de- 
fined system  which  was  improved  by  legislation  in  1879, 
1891,  and  1896.  There  is  a  Minister  of  Education  as  well 
as  a  Superintendent  of  Education,  but  the  general  character 
of  the  arrangements  are  not  materially  different  from  those 
in  other  Provinces.  In  1872  there  were  25  school  districts 
which  had  increased  to  193  in  1896 ;  an  average  daily  attend- 
ance of  575  as  agninst  one  of  9,254;  an  expenditure  of  $36,- 
000  as  against  $204,000.  There  are  a  large  number  of  In- 
dian schools  in  the  Province  under  denominational  control, 
and,  though  it  is  without  a  University,  the  Roman  Catholics 
have  two  Colleges  for  boys  and  various  Academies,  while 
the  Methodists  have  a  College  at  New  Westminster.  The 
only  University  from  Lake  Superior  to  the  shores  of  the 
Pacific  is  the  University  of  Manitoba  at  Winnipeg.  It  origi- 
nated, practically,  from  the  Anglican  Red  River  Academy  of 
pioneer  days,  and  was  organized  in  1877  witli  University 
powers  and  as  a  federated  institution  which  included  St. 
John's  College  (the  old-time  Academy),  Manitoba  College 
under  Presbyterian  auspices,  the  College  of  St.  Boniface 
under  Catholic  control,  and  Wesley  College  under  Methodist 
guidance.     Archbishop  Machray,  the  Anglican  Primate  of 


M 


i  ;■ 


I 

il 


456 


THE  STORY   OF   THE  DOMINION 


Canada,  has  been  its  Chancellor  for  many  years  and  has  had 
much  to  do  with  its  history  and  success. 

During  all  these  educational  developments  in  the  Provinces 
the  factor  of  sectarian  strife  has  had  a  more  or  less  pro- 
nounced effect.  In  Quebec  it  took  the  early  form  of  antago- 
nism between  the  hierarchy  and  the  founders  of  McGill  Uni- 
versity, but  finally  mellowed  down  into  a  condition  in  which 
Laval  has  become  the  centre  of  Catholic  higher  education 
and  McGill  of  Protestant  attendance.  Little  conflict  has  ex- 
isted in  modern  times  between  the  elementary  school  sections 
and  they  have  worked  quietly  along  their  own  distinct  and 
marked  lines.  In  Ontario  the  earlier  struggles  were  between 
the  dominant  and  dominating  Church  of  England,  which  de- 
sired— as  in  the  Motherland — to  control  the  Universities. 
This  desire  led  to  the  long  political  conflict  over  the  consti- 
tution and  functions  of  King's  College,  or,  as  it  afterward 
became,  the  University  of  Toronto.  It  also  caused  the  for- 
mation of  various  denominational  Colleges  and  Universities. 
A  later  struggle,  in  the  years  preceding  Confederation,  was 
fought  over  the  Catholic  desire  for  Separate  Schools — a  wish 
which  was  realized  in  the  legislation  of  1862  and  crystallized 
in  the  pact  of  Confederation  and  the  subsequent  amendments 
of  the  Mowat  Government.  In  the  Maritime  Provinces  the 
struggle  for  supremacy  in  educational  matters  by  the  Church 
of  England  resulted  in  a  division  of  forces  and  opinion  which 
led  to  the  foundation  of  Dalhousie  University  in  antago- 
nism to  King's  College  and  the  creation  of  Acadia  College 
in  opposition  to  both.  The  Mount  Sackville  institution  was, 
in  the  same,  way  a  New  Brunswick  protest  against  the  origi- 
nal Anglicanism  of  its  University  at  Fredericton.  The  con- 
flicts were  bitter  and  eventually  went  against  the  Church  of 
England  principle,  but,  instead  of  resulting  in  a  unified  sys- 
tem of  secular  higher  education  in  each  of  the  Provinces,  as 
should  logically  have  been  the  case,  it  has  simply  caused  the 
multiplication  of  denominational  colleges  at  the  expense  of 
the  now  secularized  older  institutions  and  at  the  expense,  in 
many  cases,  of  general  efficiency  and  success. 


A    REVIEW   OF  POPULAR    PROGRESS 


467 


RELIGIOUS    HISTORY    AND    niOGRESS 

The  religions  progress  of  Canada  since  pioneer  days  is  a 
subject  of  fascinating  interest.  It  has  worked  in  dilferent 
ways  into  the  very  warp  and  woof  of  (''anadian  history  and 
finds  a  pl^ce,  through  denominational  rivalry,  in  almost 
every  Canadian  branch  of  popular  development.  In  Quebec, 
the  Roman  Catholic  Church  has  guided  and  modified  and 
control'  1  the  institutions  of  the  Provinoe,  the  habits  and 
customs  of  the  French  race,  the  morals  and  politics  and  loy- 
alty of  the  people.  It  helped  Lord  Dorchester  to  save  the 
country  to  the  Crown  in  1776 ;  it  supported  Great  Britain 
with  strenuous  efforts  in  1812;  it  modified  and  checked  the 
revolutionary  movement  of  1837 ;  it  stood  by  the  proposals 
for  Confederation  in  1867;  it  largely  backed  up  the  Conserva- 
tive party  in  its  principles  of  expansion  and  protection  and 
railway  development  up  to  1891 ;  it  opposed  the  movement  in 
favor  of  Commercial  Union  with  the  United  States.  It  had 
a  place  in  the  Jesuits  Estates  question,  a  pronounced  share 
in  the  Riel  issue,  an  important  part  in  the  New  Brunswick 
School  question,  and  a  still  more  vital  share  in  the  Manitoba 
School  matter. 

The  Church  of  England  in  all  the  English  Provinces  was 
a  dominant  power  in  earlier  days,  an  influence  for  loyalty 
to  the  Crown,  for  education  in  the  love  of  British  institutions, 
for  adherence  to  rule  by  a  governing  Loyalist  class,  for  devo- 
tion to  the  policy  of  British  Governors.  It  held  a  high  place  in 
the  Government  of  all  the  Provinces — not  excepting  Cath- 
olic Quebec — prior  to  the  Rebellion ;  it  had  a  strong  interest 
in  the  stormy  question  of  the  Clergy  Reserves ;  it  held  a  vig- 
orous position  in  matters  of  education ;  it  did  much,  in  co- 
operation with  the  Roman  Catholic  Church,  to  pioneer  West- 
ern religious  activities ;  it  was  for  half  a  century  the  Church 
of  the  classes,  the  support  of  old-time  Toryism,  the  strength 
of  a  social  system  which  was  not  without  great  benefit  to  a 
new  community  and  crude  conditions  of  life. 

The  Methodist  denomination  had  a  pronounced  place  in  the 

OOMINIOir— M 


li 


i 


i  i 


458 


THE  STORY  OF   THE   DOMINION 


hearts  oi  later  settlers  from  the  United  States  and  the  United 
Kingdom.  It  was  the  early  root  and  home  of  Canadian  radi- 
calism, the  centre  of  opposition  to  Toryism,  the  embodiment 
of  steady  and  severe  missionary  labors,  the  cause  of  bitter 
political  controversy  in  educational  matters  and  in  such  po- 
litical issues  as  the  Clergy  Reserves.  It  held  intimate  associa- 
tions with  American  Methodism,  and,  up  to  1812,  a  great 
part  of  its  ministers  were  American,  while  its  polity  and  prin- 
ciples and  preaching  were  also  American  in  style,  and,  too 
often,  in  advocacy  and  patriotism.  After  the  war,  when  many 
of  its  pulpits  were  vacated  by  American  citizens  returning  to 
their  own  country,  the  English  element  became  predominant, 
and,  in  1828,  the  Canadian  Methodist  Conference  was  finally 
declared  independent  of  the  American  Church.  It  had  many 
ups  and  downs  after  this  time  and  was  divided  upon  political 
issues  in  later  years  by  Dr.  Egerton  Ryerson,  but  always,  and 
everywhere  in  the  Provinces,  it  continued  to  exercise  a  strong 
influence  in  public  affairs. 

Presbyterianism  was  never  such  a  political  factor  as  were 
the  three  divisions  of  Christianity  just  referred  to.  Its  polity 
was  too  severe  in  tone  and  practice  and  its  ministers  too  con- 
servative, in  a  non-partisan  sense,  to  constitute  what  might 
be  termed  a  semi-political  denomination.  Methodism  was 
essentially  a  militant  and  missionary  denomination  in  Cana- 
dian history;  Presbyterianism  was  more  of  a  strong,  pervad- 
ing influence  among  men  of  a  single  nationality.  Its  divisions 
were  not  so  numerous  as  in  the  other  case,  and,  prior  to  the 
Disruption  in  Scotland,  the  "Kirk"  often  stood  side  by  side 
with  the  Church  of  England  as  a  silent  factor  for  the  preserva- 
tion of  old  traditions  and  in  simple  antagonism  to  democratic 
innovation.  The  chief  political  issue  with  which  it  was  mixed 
up  was  that  of  the  Clergy  Reserves,  just  as  thf  one  public 
question  in  which  the  strong  Baptist  denomination  of  the 
Maritime  Provinces  was  concerned  was  that  of  secular  edu- 
cation. 

In  all  these  religious  divisions  the  controversies  of  the  Old 
Land  were  reproduced  with  more  or  les^  fidelity.   The  Church 


A   REVIEW  OF  POPULAR   PROGRESS 


459 


of  England  disputed  in  the  latter  half  of  the  century  over 
forms  and  ceremonies  of  High  or  Low  Church  practice  just 
as  they  did  in  England.  Methodism  was  divided  into  the 
Primitive  Methodist  Church,  the  Bible  Christian  Church,  and 
the  Wesleyan  Methodist  Church,  while  its  American  affilia- 
tions and  Canadian  position  brought  into  existence  the  New 
Methodist-Episcopal  Church  and  the  Methodist  New  Connec- 
tion. Presbyterianism  had  its  Church  of  Scotland  in  Can- 
ada, its  Free  Church  Synod,  its  Presbyterian  Church  of  the 
Lower  Provinces,  its  United  Presbyterian  Church,  its  Canada 
Presbyterian  Church. 

If,  however,  the  denominations  shared  in  the  shaded  dif- 
ferences of  thought  and  creed  which  came  to  them  from  the 
Old  Land,  they  also  shared,  immensely  and  beneficially,  in 
the  financial  benefactions  of  the  British  Churches  and  of  the 
great  missionary  Societies;  while  the  Church  of  England  re- 
ceived large  sums  from  the  British  Parliament  well  on  into 
the  nineteenth  century.  Up  to  1833,  when  a  gradual  reduction 
was  begim,  the  Imperial  Parliament  granted  £16,000  a  year 
for  the  maintenance  of  this  Church  in  British  America  and 
many  other  sums  were  paid  from  time  to  time.  The  Society 
for  Promoting  Christian  Knowledge  was  indefatigable  in 
its  missionary  work  and  spent  large  sums  in  extending  the 
Episcopate,  endowing  missionary  clergy,  and  aiding  strug- 
gling parishes  in  the  different  Provinces.  The  Society  for 
Propagating  the  Gospel  was  more  than  a  benefactor,  it  was 
almost  the  parent  of  the  Church  of  England  in  Canada.  Its 
expenditure  between  1703  and  1892  in  British  America  was 
$8,930,925,  and  from  1820  to  1865  its  annual  expenditure 
seldom  went  below  $100,000.  The  Church  Missionary  So- 
ciety was  another  stanch  supporter  of  Anglicanism  in  Can- 
ada. The  various  Methodist  Churches  were  also  largely  aided 
by  funds  from.  London  and  their  early  English  missionaries 
were  almost  entirely  supported  from  that  source.  So  with 
the  Presbyterian  denominations  and  the  well-kno-«vn  Glasgow 
Colonial  Society  and  its  practical  work  betweenl825  and  1840. 

The  progress  and  personnel  of  these  Churches  have  a  most 


*       r 


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460 


THE  STORY   OF   THE   DOMINION 


interesting  record — the  former  because  of  the  light  it  throws 
upon  general  religious  conditions,  the  latter  because  of  the 
influence  it  had  upon  public  development  and  affairs.  The 
Eoman  Catholic  Church  holds  the  chief  place  in  numbers  as 
well  as  in  length  of  historic  association  with  Canadian  soil. 
As  the  French  population  of  Quebec  has  increased,  so  have  its 
adherents,  and  with  this  increase  has  come  a  similar  expan- 
sion and  expression  of  missionary  zeal  in  the  far  West  and 
in  all  the  Provinces.  The  Catholic  population  of  Quebec  in 
1783  has  been  placed  at  113,000  by  the  Church  itself.  In 
1830  it  was  at  least  half  a  million,  with  about  50,000  in 
Upper  Canada.  In  1851  the  Church  had  746,854  adherents 
in  Lower  Canada;  in  1871,  just  after  Confederation,  it  had 
1,019,850 ;  and  in  1891  1,291,709.  In  Ontario,  its  adherents 
numbered  in  the  years  mentioned  167,695,  274,166,  and  358,- 
300  respectively.  In  the  three  Maritime  Provinces  of  Nova 
Scotia,  New  Brunswick,  and  Prince  Edward  Island  it  had,  at 
nearly  the  same  periods,*  181,561,  238,459,  and  286,250  ad- 
herents. The  Western  figures  are  of  recent  date  and  show 
that  in  Manitoba,  the  Territories,  and  British  Columbia  the 
total  Catholic  population  in  1881  was  26,000  in  round  num- 
bers, and,  in  1891,  53,000.  This  gives  a  round  total,  for 
what  is  now  the  Dominion,  of  1,080,000  Roman  Catholics  in 
1851,  1,530,000  in  1871,  and  2,000,000  in  1891— an  increase 
pf  half  a  million  in  every  two  decades. 

The  leaders  of  the  Church  during  this  period  have  had 
much  to  do  with  its  success.  In  Quebec  the  militant  Laval 
and  loyal  Plessis  were  succeeded  by  a  series  of  eminent  men, 
of  whom  Archbishops  Turgeon  and  Baillargeon  of  Quebec, 
Cardinal  Taschereaii,  the  first  Canadian  Prince  of  his 
Church,  and  Archbishops  Bourget  and  Fabre  of  Montreal, 
were  perhaps  the  chief.  Bishop  Guigues  of  Ottawa,  Mgr. 
Provencher  and  Archbishop  Tache  of  Manitoba,  Archbishops 
Lynch  and  Walsh  of  Toronto,  Archbishop  Cleary  of  Kings- 


•  The  earliest  figures  obtainable  in  New  Brunswick  are  for  1861  and 
in  Prince  Edward  Island  for  1848.  This  statement  also  applies  to  the 
statistics  given  at  the  end  of  this  chapter. 


A    REVIEW  OF  POPULAR   PROORESS 


461 


ton,  Archbishops  Connolly  and  O'Brien  of  Halifax,  Mgr. 
McKinnon  of  Antigonish,  and  Bishop  Deniera  of  Vancouver 
Island,  were  the  most  representative  successors  of  Macdonell 
and  Burke  and  others  of  pioneer  days.  An  important  inci- 
dent of  ecclesiastical  history  in  Canada  in  this  connection 
has  been  the  influence  exercised  by  the  Pope,  at  times,  over 
its  affairs.  In  1877,  Mgr.  George  Conroy  was  sent  out  to 
the  Dominion  as  an  Apostolic  Ablegate  to  arrange  the  long- 
standing disputes  between  Laval  University,  in  Quebec,  and 
its  brancli  in  Montreal.  In  1888,  Mjrr.  Smueldrcs  was  de- 
spatched largely  in  connection  with  the  same  troubles  and 
partly  to  soothe  certain  Diocesan  difficulties.  Mgr.  Raffaele 
Merry  del  Val  was  sent,  in  1897,  to  report  upon  the  Manitoba 
School  question,  and  to  prevent  further  agitation  among  the 
hierarchy  if  it  should  seem  desirable.  In  1899,  Mgr.  Dio- 
mede  Falcon io  was  appointed  in  a  more  permanent  capacity 
to  act,  apparently,  as  the  Pope's  adviser  upon  Canadian 
affairs. 

Meanwhile,  the  great  Prot<».  tant  denominations  had  l)een 
expanding  in  various  directions  under  the  most  strenuous  ex- 
ertions by  their  leaders.  The  Church  of  England  was  led 
in  Quebec  by  such  heroes  of  the  missionary  field  as  Bishop 
Jacob  Mountain,  Bishop  George  J.  Mountain,  and  Bishop 
Charles  James  Stewart,  and  by  such  religious  organizers  as 
Dr.  Williams  and  Dr.  Fulford — the  latter  the  first  Metropoli- 
tan of  Canada.  In  Ontario,  the  Rev.  Dr.  John  Stuart,  and 
the  strenuous  personality  of  Bishop  Strachan,  were  promi- 
nent. In  the  Maritime  Provinces,  Dr.  Charles  Inglis,  the 
first  Colonial  Bishop,  and  whose  See  for  a  time  included  all 
British  America,  Dr.  John  Inglis,  also  Bishop  of  Nova  Sco- 
tia, Dr.  Hibbert  Binney,  Bishop  of  the  same  Province,  and 
Dr.  John  Medley,  Bishop  of  Fredericton  during  forty-seven 
years,  worked  steadily  in  the  foundation  and  development  of 
the  Church.  So  with  Bishop  Anderson  and  Archbishop 
Machray  at  Fort  Garry  and  Winnipeg,  Bishop  Horden  in  the 
far-away  Territx)ries,  Bishop  Sillitoe  in  British  Columbia, 
and  Bishop  Bompas  in  the  distant  Yukon. 


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462 


THE   STOBY   OF   THE   DOMINION 


:  Methodism  in  Canada  boasts  pioneer  laborers  such  as  Wil- 
liam Case,  James  Richardson,  Henry  Ryan,  John  Reynolds, 
John  Davison,  Egerton  Ryerson,  John  Carroll,  Anson  Green, 
William  Black — men  of  immense  energy,  deep  spiritual  en- 
thusiasm, and  the  highest  powers  of  endurance.  In  later  and 
quieter  days  the  Church — ^which  became  one  great  united 
body  from  ocean  to  ocean  in  1883 — boasted  scholars  and  ora- 
tors such  as  Dr.  Mathew  Richey,  Dr.  Enoch  Wood,  Dr.  Wil- 
liam Morley  Punshon,  Dr.  Gteorge  Douglas,  Dr.  S.  D.  Rice, 
Dr.  J.  A.  Williams,  Dr.  Albert  Carman,  Dr.  W.  H.  Withrow. 
Presbyterianism  in  its  personnel  has  hardly  had  the  same  pio- 
neer variety  of  attainment,  except  in  the  cases  of  Dr.  James 
McGregor  in  Nova  Scotia,  Dr.  John  Cook  in  Quebec,  and  Dr. 
John  Black  in  the  far  West.  In  the  later  days  men  of  great 
ability  or  learning  such  as  Dr.  Alexander  Mathieson  Dr. 
Robert  Bums,  Dr.  Alexander  Topp,  Dr.  John  Jenkiii^,  Dr. 
William  Reid,  Dr.  William  Gregg,  Dr.  J.  M.  King,  Dr. 
William  Caven,  and  Dr.  Alexander  MacKnight  appeared  on 
the  scene.  The  actual  and  statistical  progress  of  these  three 
great  Churches  since  missionary  days  can  be  seen  at  a  glance 
from  the  following  three  tables : 


I.      THE  OHUBCH   OF  ENGLAND 


1851 

Ontario 223,190 

Quebec    44,682 

Maritime  Provinces  ....    85,421 


Hif^r^Mts 


353,293 


1871 
330,995 

62,449 
107,844 

501,288 


1891 
385,999 

75,472 
114,151 

575,622 


The  Western  Provinces  increased  from  25,000  Anglican 
adherents  in  1881  to  68,000  in  1891. 


?.i 


II.      THE  METHODIST  DENOMINATION 

1851                1871  1891 

Ontario  213,365            462,264  654,033 

Quebec    21,19ft              .34,100  39.544 

Maritime  Provinces  ....    54,164             81,797  103,295 


288,728 


578,161 


796,872 


TT 


A   REVIEW  OF  POPULAR   PROGRESS 


463 


The  Western  figures  were  13,000  in  1881  and  51,000  in 
1891. 


lU.      FBEBBTTEKIANISM 

1851  1871 

Ontario     204,148  356,442 

Quebec    33,470  46,165 

Maritime  Provinces  129,158  171,970 


366,776 


rti'i  fi77 


1891 

453,147 

52,673 

182,483 

688,303 


The  increase  in  the  West  was  from  19,000  in  1881  to 
67,000  in  1891.  From  these  and  preceding  figures  it  is  seen 
that,  in  round  numbers,  the  Roman  Catholic  faith  increased 
its  adherents  in  all  the  Canadian  Provinces,  between  1851 
and  1891,  by  1,000,000  souls,  the  Church  of  England  by 
290,000,  the  Methodist  denomination  by  460,000,  and  the 
Presbyterian  Church  by  388,000.  It  will  be  seen,  inciden- 
tally, that  the  Church  of  greatest  prominence  and  influence 
in  early  English-speaking  Canada  has  made  the  least  com- 
parative progress  of  all  the  chief  divisions  of  Christianity 
in  the  country  during  the  last  half  of  the  nineteenth  cen- 
tury; and  it  will  also  be  easily  perceived  how  large  a  place 
the  progress  of  Roman  Catholicism  gives  that  faith  in  the 
population  of  the  Dominion. 

LITERAKY   AND   JOURNALISTIC    PROGRESS 

Literature  has  not  wielded  a  very  great  influence  in  the 
history  of  Canada.  The  earlier  settlers  had  to  pay  almost 
undivided  attention  to  their  activities  in  field  and  forest,  on 
lake  and  river.  The  axe  of  the  settler,  the  rafts  of  the  lum- 
berman, the  canoe  of  the  voyageur,  the  musket  of  the  hunter, 
embodied  the  practical  and  necessary  aims  of  the  people. 
Later  on  they  developed  keen  political  proclivities,  and  the 
press  and  the  pamphlet  took  the  place  of  books  and  what  is 
generally  regarded  as  literature.  There  were  a  few  prom- 
inent names,  and  a  few  works  which  have  lived,  and  they  are 
chiefly  found  among  the  French  Canadians.  They  had  cul- 
tivated poetry  and  music  and  song,  and  the  lighter  graces  of 
life  long  before  such  developments  had  penetrated  the  for-; 
csts  of  Ontario  or  the  Atlantic  wilderness.     Charlevoix,  Bi- 


I  ': 


.  :!i 


: 


■ 


464 


THE  STORY  OF   THE  DOMINION 


baud,  Ferland,  Faillon,  De  Gaspe,  Gerin-Lajoie  must  be 
mentioned.  Robert  Christie  and  Henry  H.  Miles  in  Quebec, 
John  Mercier  McMuUen  in  Ontario,  Murdoch,  Campbell, 
Gesner,  and  Archer  in  the  Maritime  Provinces,  were  hinto- 
rians  who  did  good  work  in  the  English  language.  Then 
came  the  period  brightened  by  the  pen  of  Thomas  Chandler 
Haliburton,  the  inimitable  "Sam  Slick,"  the  founder  of  a 
distinct  school  of  humor,  the  best  known  of  Caradian  writers 
up  to  very  recent  times. 

Canadian  literature  became  voluminous  after  the  middle 
period  marked  by  the  pens  of  Henry  J.  Morgan,  W.  J.  Rat- 
tray, Alpheus  Todd,  Edmund  Collins,  John  Charles  Dent, 
George  Stewart,  Heavysege,  Sangster,  and  McLachlan.  Dr. 
William  Kingsford  as  a  historian.  Sir  John  George  Bourinot 
as  a  constitutional  authority  and  historian,  Charles  G.  D. 
Roberts  as  a  jwet  and  novelist,  Archibald  Lampman  and  W. 
Wilfrid  Campbell  as  poets  of  high  quality,  William  Kirby 
as  author  of  "Le  Chien  D'Or,"  Sara  Jeanette  Duncan,  Lily 
Dougall,  Robert  Barr,  William  McLennan,  S.  Francis  Har- 
rison as  novelists,  Louis  Frechette  as  the  chief  of  French- 
Canadian  poets,  Gilbert  Parker  as  one  of  the  world's  novel 
writers,  Benjamin  Suite,  Lieutenant-Colonel  George  T.  Deni- 
son,  and  Dr.  George  R.  Parkin  all  hold  marked  places  in  the 
literary  life  of  Canada.  There  are  very  many  more  who 
might  and  should  be  mentioned  in  poetry,  science,  biography, 
and  history,  and  all  the  varied  branches  of  literature,  but 
enough  have  been  given  to  indicate  that  Canada  in  this,  as 
in  other  respects,  has  grown  out  of  the  Colonial  stage  and 
taken  its  place  in  the  stream  of  the  world's  contribution  to 
published  thought  and  fancy,  expression  and  fact. 

In  journalism  Canada  has  hardly  held  its  place  in  com- 
parison with  other  branches  of  development.  It  always  has 
excelled  in  vigor  and  force  of  expression,  but  has  failed  in 
culture  and  breadth  of  view.  Some  of  its  historic  names 
are  those  of  Joseph  Howe,  George  Brown,  Egerton  Ryerson, 
Francis  Hincks,  William  Annand,  William  Elder,  John  Liv- 
ingston, Etienne  Parent,  J.  B.  E.  Dorion,  Mederic  Lanctot, 


THE   GROWTH   OF  NATIONAL   PROSPERITY 


465 


Joseph  Doutre,  J.  E.  Cauchon,  Ronald  Macdonald,  Raphael 
Bellemare,  Thomas  White,  John  Cameron,  John  Reade, 
George  Murray,  E.  Goff  Penny,  Peter  Mitchell,  John  Doug- 
all,  David  Kinnear,  D'Arcy  McGee,  William  Lyon  Macken- 
zie, James  Lesslie,  William  McDougall,  Hugh  Scobie,  George 
Sheppard,  Daniel  Morrison,  Samuel  Thompson,  J.  Gordon 
Brown,  T.  C.  Patterson,  William  Fisher  Luxton,  Nicholas 
Flood  Davin,  D.  W.  Higgins,  and  John  Robson.  From  the 
Atlantic  to  the  Pacific  these  names  range  up  through  the 
stormy  politics  of  a  century.  Many  of  the  men  mentioned 
became  also  eminent  in  other  spheres  and  all  possessed  dis- 
tinct ability. 

But  distance  from  the  high  standards  of  British  journal- 
istic life;  proximity  to  the  sensationalism  of  the  United 
States  press;  developments  arising  from  localism  of  character 
and  narrowness  of  view ;  lack  of  capital  and  a  large  constitu- 
ency, tended  to  greatly  weaken  the  influence  and  standing 
of  Canadian  newspapers  and  to  hamper  the  true  and  best  prog- 
ress of  the  press.  Toward  the  end  of  the  century  these 
causes  have  largely  passed  away^  and,  though  much  room 
still  exists  for  improvement,  the  greater  newspapers  of  Can- 
ada are  creditable  to  the  ability  and  knowledge  of  those  in 
charge.  When  they  have  been  made  thoroughly  Canadian 
in  fact  and  character  by  the  creation  of  a  Canadian  news 
service  in  Europe  and  a  declaration  of  independence  from 
American  news  agencies  there,  another  mile-stone  on  the 
path  of  progress  will  have  been  passed. 


CHAPTER   XXTX 

TEE    OROWTH    OF   TfATIONAL    PROSPERITY 

THE  Provinces  of  French  and  British  Canada  up  to 
the  Conquest  were  largely  fur-trading  communities. 
Their  exports  were  the  products  of  the  chase  or  of 
the  skilful  labors  of  banters  and  trappers  in  the  vnlda  of 
the  West.     Under  the  French  regime,  and  especially  from 


46e 


THE  STOBY  OF  THE  DOMINION 


1660  to  1760,  the  country  now  called  Quebec,  and  stretch- 
ing far  down  into  the  heart  of  the  Mississippi  Valley,  was 
in  the  hands  of  a  practically  close  corporation  which  con- 
trolled the  trade  and  taxes  and  distribution  of  all  products. 
Special  monopolies  in  the  fur-trade,  or  in  the  farming  of  the 
revenues,  were  given  from  time  to  time  by  the  French  King. 
Such  conditions  had  a  naturally  restrictive  and  injurious 
effect  upon  individual  enterprise,  and  the  progress  of  com- 
mercial interchange  was,  therefore,  seriously  retarded.  Park- 
man  tells  us  that  in  1674,  for  instance,  merchants  not  resi- 
dents in  the  Colony  "were  forbidden  to  sell  any  goods  at 
retail  except  in  August,  September,  and  October;  to  trade 
anywhere  in  Canada  above  Quebec,  and  to  sell  clothing  or 
domestic  articles  ready-made.  No  person,  resident  or  not, 
could  trade  with  the  English  Colonies  and  foreign  commerce 
of  any  kind  was  s^^fAj  prohibited."  In  1719,  the  authorities 
were  empowered  to  search  houses  for  foreign  goods  and  to 
burn  them  publicly,  while  ships  engaged  in  foreign  trade 
were  to  be  treated  as  pirates. 

When  Great  Britain  took  possession  of  the  country  in  1763 
its  trade  was,  consequently,  chiefly  confined  to  furs  and  the 
products  of  the  forest.  Agriculture  had  made  little  progress 
and  manufactures  were  non-existent — except  those  of  he 
hand-loom  and  of  home  composition.  With  the  accession 
of  British  rule  came  the  British  fiscal  system.  Canadians 
could  now  trade  freely  with  the  Thirteen  Colonies,  although 
there  was  little  real  demand  for  commercial  exchange.  In 
addition  to  this,  all  British  possessions  were  governed  by  the 
same  Navigation  Laws  and  regulations  against  trading  with 
foreign  countries,  or  in  foreign  vessels,  which  were  begin- 
ning to  prove  so  irritating  to  the  men  of  the  Atlantic  sea- 
board. Very  soon,  therefore,  almost  the  entire  Canadian 
trade  had  passed  from  the  hands  ot  France  to  the  hands  of 
England.  By  1808  the  figures  for  Upper  and  Lower  Canada 
were  £1,776,000  sterling,  of  which  the  greater  part  repre- 
sented British  business.  Furs,  wheat,  flour,  timber,  and  fish 
were  the  chief  exports,  and  of  the  imports  £200,000  were 


M 


THE   GROWTH   OF  NATIONAL   PROaPER^TY 


467 


manufactured  goods  and  £100,000  were  tea,  tobacco,  and 
provisions.  In  this  year  there  were  333  vessels  engaged  in 
the  external  trade  of  the  Provinces,  while,  in  1830,  967  ves- 
sels arrived  at  the  port  of  Quebec  alone. 

During  these  years  and  up  to  1846,  the  Motherland  gave 
every  possible  encouragement  to  Colonial  trade.  If  she  re- 
stricted its  expansion  in  foreign  channels  she  made  up  for 
the  action,  and  more  than  made  up  for  it,  by  tariffs  which 
gave  immense  preferences  to  Canadian  products  over  those 
of  other  countries — lumber  over  that  of  the  Baltic,  and  wheat 
over  that  of  the  United  States,  for  instance.  In  1845  the 
Imperial  tariff  showed  a  preference  given  to  wheat  of  18s. 
charged  foreign  countries  as  against  28.  to  5s.  charged  the 
Colonies :  to  horses  and  oxen  of  21s.  as  against  10s. ;  to  cheese 
of  lis.  as  against  2s.  7d.  These  instances  might  be  indefi- 
nitely extended.  In  the  following  year,  however,  the  Corn 
Laws  and  the  Colonial  preferences  v/ere  alike  abolished,  and, 
after  a  preliminary  crash  and  prolonged  depression,  the  fiscal 
system  of  a  Provincial  revenue  tariff,  with  touches  of  in- 
cidental protection,  was  established;  Colonial  trade  was 
made  open  to  the  world  and  Colonial  tariffs  given,  by  a 
sort  of  gradually  broadening  process,  into  the  control  of 
Colonial  Governments.  Up  to  1878,  the  tariffs  of  the  Prov- 
inces and  then  of  the  Dominion  remained  largely  of  a 
revenue  nature — with  the  exception  of  Mr.  Gait's  policy  in 
1858-1859  in  the  Canadas.  Since  1878  the  tariff  of  Canada 
has  betsu  a  protective  one,  pure  and  simple,  with,  however, 
a  preference  granted  to  British  goods  from  and  after  1898. 

INTER-PKOVINCIAL    TRADE 

In  all  this  period,  and  up  to  the  beginning  of  the  fourth 
quarter  in  the  nineteenth  century,  there  was  little  real  trade 
between  the  Provinces  of  British  America.  The  North-West 
and  the  Pacific  Coast  were  hopelessly  barred  by  distance,  by 
the  influence  of  a  great  corporation,  and  by  geographical  ob- 
stacles, from  the  Lake  and  Atlantic  Provinces.  Lower  Can- 
ada and  the  Maritime  Provinces  naturally  followed  the  lines 


408 


THE  STORY   OF  THE  DOMINION 


of  least  resistance  and  of  tariff  encouragement  and  traded 
with  England.  Upper  Canada  exchanged  its  goods  and  prod- 
ucts in  a  very  considerable  frontier  trade.  When  the  Reci- 
procity Treaty  came,  trade  developed  steadily  with  the  United 
States  in  preference  to  England  and  even  against  the  other 
Provinces.  Tariffs  were  imposed  by  the  Provinces,  from  the 
time  of  the  abolition  of  the  Corn  Laws  until  Confederation, 
against  each  other.  It  was  natural,  therefore,  that  during 
the  Reciprocity  period,  when  people  were  growing  rich  on 
American  trade  and  war  necessities  and  found  their  foreign 
commerce  jumping  up  by  leaps  and  bounds,  that  trade  be- 
tween Canada  and  the  Maritime  Provinces  should  be  small 
and  show  little  change — ^in  1855  it  was  $1,889,428  and  in 
1866  $2,429,038. 

Confederation  consequently  started  with  a  tiny  traffic 
among  the  Provinces  and  with  the  very  large  trade,  com- 
paratively, of  $75,000,000  between  the  Provinces  and  the 
American  Republic.  After  that  time,  what  migLt  be  called 
the  home  trade  grew,  but  very  slowly,  for  a  decade.  Reci- 
procity was,  of  course,  a  fact  as  between  the  various  divisions 
of  the  Dominion  and  in  vivid  contrast  to  the  previous  condi- 
tion of  reciprocity  with  a  foreign  country  and  Inter-Provin- 
cial tariffs.  But  the  new  Dominion  tariff  was  not  made  so  as 
to  encourage  trade  among  the  neighboring  Provinces  and  it 
still  tended  southward  to  the  magnet  of  a  large  population 
and  the  attraction  of  great  industries  which  steadily  ex- 
panded as  the  time  of  war  and  strife  receded  into  the 
distance. 

A  Select  Committee  of  the  House  of  Commons  was  ap- 
pointed in  1877  to  inquire  into  the  situation,  but  the  anti- 
protectionist  party  was  still  in  power  and  the  Report  could 
only  express  academic  wishes  for  cheaper  transportation  and 
increased  trade.  Then  came  the  establishment  of  the  Na- 
tional Policy  of  protection  and  the  building  of  the  Canadian 
Pacific  Railway.  Another  Committee  of  the  House  was 
appointed  in  1883,  and,  after  exhaustive  inquiry,  they  re- 
ported that  the  purchases  of  the  Maritime  Provinces  had 


THE   GROWTH    OF  NATIONAL   PROSPERITY 


469 


increased  from  $1,200;000  in  1866  to  $22,000,000  in  1882. 
The  trade  in  fish  from  Nova  Scotia  westward  had  "developed 
to  very  large  proportions,  and  as  far  west  as  Montreal  a 
very  considerable  trade  is  already  done  in  fish  and  oils  and 
in  West  Indian  goods  and  coal." 

Exact  information,  either  then  or  now,  is,  however,  diffi- 
cult to  obtain  upon  this  point.  There  are  no  tariffs  to  draw 
upon  for  facts,  and  figures  have  to  be  largely  estimates.  But 
we  know  that  from  this  time  onward  the  business  between 
the  Provinces,  both  east  and  west,  greatly  and  steadily  in- 
creased. Canadian  manufactured  goods  held  their  own  home 
market  from  Halifax  to  Vancouver,  and,  as  the  country  grew 
in  population,  wealth  and  transportation  facilities,  the  value 
of  this  market  naturally  developed.  Iron  and  steel  manu- 
factures from  Nova  Scotia  came  up  to  the  inland  Provinces. 
Cotton  and  other  goods  of  New  Brunswick  reached  the 
markets  of  Ontario.  Farm  implements  and  various  products 
of  industrial  activity  from  Ontario  poured  into  the  North- 
West.  Boots  and  shoes  from  Quebec  supplied  part  of  the 
Ontario  market.  The  fish  of  the  Atlantic  and  Pacific  came 
west  and  east  in  expanding  quantities.  Nova  Scotia  coal 
supplied  Quebec  more  and  more  largely,  and  Ontario  in  a 
small  measure.  Indications  of  this  increasing  Inter-Provincial 
trafiic  are  found  in  the  coasting  trade,  which  grew  10,000,000 
tons  in  volume  between  1887  and  1896;  in  the  freight  car- 
ried by  railways,  which  increased  8,000,000  tons  during  the 
same  period;  in  the  shipments  of  food  products  sent  from 
Montreal  to  the  Maritime  Province  ports,  which  have  ex- 
panded very  largely  in  recent  years;  in  the  freight  carried 
by  the  Inter-Colonial  Railway,  which  grew  from  421,000 
tons  in  1877  to  1,379,000  in  1896  and  is  chiefly  Inter-Pro- 
vincial traffic.  While,  therefore,  estimates  only  are  possible 
in  bulk,  the  evidences  of  a  large  increase  in  this  internal 
trade  are  sufficiently  clear  to  warrant  Mr.  George  Johnson, 
the  Dominion  Statistician,  in  making  elaborate  calculations 
and  deductions  from  which,  in  1899,  he  placed  the  total 
trade   interchange   among  the   Provinces   at  $80,000,000. 


i  I 
I 


!f- 


470 


THE  STORY   OF   THE  DOMINION 


Following  out  his  method  of  calculation  the  figures  in  the 
last  year  of  the  century  would  be  at  least  $125,000,000. 

DEVELOPMENT   IN    CCMMEBCE   AND  PEODUCTION 

Meanwhile,  external  trade  also  developed  largely.  The 
impetus  given  to  commerce  with  the  United  States,  and  to 
the  use  of  American  transportation  facilities,  by  the  abolition 
of  the  British  preference  and  the  operation  of  the  Reciprocity 
Treaty,  was  checked  by  the  abrogation  of  the  latter  measure, 
affected  in  some  limited  degree  by  Confederation,  and  finally 
nullified  by  the  adoption  of  a  Canadian  protect' onist  tariff. 
The  contiguity  which  had,  at  first,  helped  to  make  people  con- 
sider the  United  States  a  natural  market  for  their  products 
taught  the  farmer,  after  a  while,  that  it  was,  in  the  nature 
of  things,  simply  a  medium  of  transportation  for  the  most  of 
his  articles  to  Great  Britain ;  and  taught  the  manufacturer 
that  he  had  little  chance  of  competing  in  the  protected  Ameri- 
can market  upon  equal  terms  and  that  it  would,  therefore,  be 
better  for  him  to  try  and  hold  the  consumers  at  his  own  doors 
and  then  to  follow  the  British  example  and  go  abroad  for  trade. 

Canadians  found,  in  fact,  that  Americans  were  their  rivals 
in  milling,  competitors  in  production,  opponents  in  railway 
and  waterway  transportation,  antagonists  in  manufacturing, 
in  jobbing,  in  importing  and  distributing,  rivals  in  the  Brit- 
ish market.  Hence  the  gradual  change  shown  in  the  trade 
returns.  In  1853  the  imports  from  the  United  States  into 
British  America  were  $7,301,000,  in  1863  $24,967,000,  in 
1873  $47,375,000,  in  1883  $56,032,000  in  1893  $58,221,000. 
In  1853  Canadian  exports  to  the  United  States  amounted  to 
$6,527,000,  in  1863  to  $17,484,000,  in  1873  to  $42,072,000, 
in  1883  to  $41,668,000  in  1893  to  $43,923,000.  It  will  be 
seen  that  the  growth  of  this  trade  was  large  and  steady  until 
1873,  when  it  became  almost  stationary.  Toward  the  end  of 
the  century  it  is  expanding  in  imports  as  a  result  of  special- 
ized American  manufactures,  general  good  times,  and  in- 
creased demand  by  Canadian  manufacturers  for  raw  material. 

Trade  with  Great  Britain,  meantime,  showed  a  curious 


THE   GROWTH    OF  NATIONAL   PROSPERITY 


471 


in- 


procoBs  of  development.  At  the  beginning  and  up  to  the  mid- 
dle of  the  centnry,  most  of  the  commerce  of  tie  Colonies  had 
been  transacted  with  the  Motherland.  After  that  time,  for 
reasons  already  mentioned,  a  good  deal  was  diverted  to  the 
United  States.  Until  1875,  however,  the  Provinces,  or  the 
Dominion,  as  the  case  might  be,  continued  to  obtain  most  of 
their  imports  from  Great  Britain — nearly  double  what  they 
exported  to  her.  In  1873  the  exports  to  the  Motherland  were 
$38,743,000  and  the  imports  from  her  $68,522,000;  in  1893 
the  exports  had  become  $64,080,000,  the  import?  $43,148,000 
— almost  a  complete  reversal.  In  1898  the  position  was  still 
more  striking,  with  exports  of  $104,998,000  and  imports  of 
only  $32,500,000.  The  reasons  for  this  transformation  are 
several.  The  British  market  has  consumed  jnd  required 
much  more  of  Canadian  food  products.  The  latter  have  be- 
come better  known  and  fewer  shipments  are  going  by  the  way 
of  American  ports  to  be  classed  as  American  products. 

On  the  other  hand,  Canadians  had  found  that  many  spe- 
cial American  manufactured  articles  were  cheaper  than  the 
corresponding  British  goods  or,  perhaps,  owing  to  British 
carelessness  and  indifference,  easier  to  obtain.  Contiguity 
and  cheapness  combined  have  had  a  pronounced  effect  in  this 
connection,  and  a  good  illustration  of  the  fact  may  be  seen  in 
the  iron  and  steel  imports  of  Canada  during  two  periods 
of  five  years  each.  In  1882-86  the  Dominion  bought  from 
Great  Britain,  in  round  numbers,  $44,000,000  worth  of  this 
great  staple  product,  and  in  t894-98  $29,000,000— a  de- 
crease of  $15,000,000.  In  1882-86  the  Dominion  bought 
from  the  United  States  $20,000,000  worth  of  iron  and  steel, 
and  in  1894-98  $41,000,000— an  increase  of  $21,000,000,  or 
more  than  double  the  original  figure.  Local  conditions  and  In- 
creased industrial  production  within  Canada  have,  of  course, 
had  something  to  do  with  this  general  decrease  in  the  imports 
of  British  goods  and  it  remains  to  be  seen  in  1900  and  ensu- 
ing years  what  effect  the  preferential  British  tariff,  inaugu- 
rated by  the  Laurier  Government  in  1898,  may  have  upon, 
this  particular  tendency  of  Canadian  trade. 


It 


)*•' 


I 

lis 

I 

I 


472 


THE   STORY    OF   THE   DOMINION 


A  great  and  growing  source  of  prospority  to  Canada,  in  and 
about  the  year  1900,  has  been  its  mines.  Iron  and  coal,  lead, 
copper,  nickel,  mica,  silver,  gold,  asbestos,  and  various  other 
minerals,  exist  in  immense  quantities,  and  some  of  them  were 
long  known  to  be  products  of  British  America.  But  difficul- 
ties of  transportation,  of  mining,  and  of  smelting  the  ore, 
and  alarm  as  to  the  nature  of  the  climate — coupled  with  gen- 
eral ignorance  abroad  concerning  the  vast  resources  which 
only  a  few  knew  anything  about  authoritatively — combined 
to  prevent  much  ])eing  done  until  near  the  end  of  the  century. 
British  Columbia,  it  is  true,  shared  in  the  California  gold 
boom  of  the  "fifties,"  its  placer  gold  was  pretty  thoroughly 
explored  and  exploited,  and,  in  time,  some  $50,000,000 
worth  of  gold  dust  was  extracted  from  its  streams  and  val- 
leys. This,  however,  was  merely  skimming  the  surface.  Nova 
Scotia,  for  many  years,  kept  up  a  small,  steady,  and  paying 
production  of  gold  and  coal,  while  salt  and  petroleum  were 
long  substantial  products  of  Ontario.  An  increasing  con- 
sumption of  Canadian  coal  was  also  visible  as  the  years  went 
on  and  tariifs  were  so  arranged  as  to  help  Nova  Scotia  in  the 
other  Provinces.  The  exports  of  this  product  rose,  very 
slowly,  from  265,000  tons  in  1868  to  1,140,000  tons  in  1899. 
But  this  production  of  coal  only  touched  the  surface  of  the 
vast  resources  which  are  now  known  to  exist  in  Nova  Scotia, 
in  British  Columbia,  and  in  the  North- West  Territories.   > 

Every  effort  has  latterly  been  made  by  fiscal  legislation  and 
bounties — notably  in  Sir  Charles  Tupper's  policy  of  1883 — 
to  encourage  iron  and  steel  industries  in  Canada;  but  with- 
out very  marked  effect  until  the  later  "nineties,"  when  blast 
furnaces  began  to  increase  in  number  and  production  in  al- 
most every  part  of  Canada  and  especially  in  Nova  Scotia,  On- 
tario, and  British  Columbia.  The  great  Canadian  develop- 
ment of  this  last  decade  has,  however,  been  that  of  gold  pro- 
duction. In  1894,  the  total  for  all  Canada  was  $1,128,638, 
and  at  about  that  figure  it  had  stood  for  twenty  years.  In 
1896  it  was  $2,754,774,  in  the  next  year  over  $6,000,000,  in 
1898   $13,000,000,  and,   in   1899  over  $21,000,000.     The 


THE   QROWTH  OF  NATIONAL   PROSPERITY 


473 


main  cause  of  this  expansion  was  th«  discovery  and  develop- 
ment of  the  great  Ynkon  District  in  respect  of  its  boundless 
resources  in  gold-seamed  ore.  There  was  also  the  discovery 
of  gold  in  the  Lake  of  the  Woods  region  of  Ontario  and  the 
immense  wealth  in  the  same  connection  which  was  found  to 
exist  at  Rossland  and  throughout  the  Kootenay  District  of 
British  Columbia.  Between  1896  and  1899  the  gold  produc- 
tion of  the  Yukon,  known  to  Canadian  authorities,  increased 
from  $300,000  to  $16,000,000,  and  the  quantity  of  gold  dust 
carried  away  yearly  by  American  miners,  and  uncontrolled 
by  tha  Government,  must  have  made  the  figures  of  total  pro- 
duction double  the  latter  amount.  Silver  has  also  been  found 
to  be  a  large  product  of  Canada,  though  not  in  later  years  a 
very  profitable  one,  while  nickel  in  great  masses  has  been 
found  along  the  northern  shores  of  Lake  Superior  and  is  be- 
ing rapidly  developed  as  a  result  of  inflowing  British  and 
American  capital.  The  total  figures  of  mineral  production 
in  the  Dominion  speak  for  themselves  and  amounted  to  a 
total  value  of  $10,000,000  in  1893,  $22,000,000  in  1896, 
and  $48,000,000  m  1899. 

Meanwhile,  the  farmer  and  the  farmer's  position  had  been 
changing  greatly.  The  pioneer  log-houses  and  shanties  of  the 
older  Provinces  had  given  place  to  comfortable  farmhouses 
and  large  barns.  The  forest  and  wilderness  had  been  replaced 
by  smiling  fields,  or  gardens,  or  fruit  farms.  The  wooden 
home-made  furniture  of  early  times  had  disappeared,  and 
even  the  antique  relics  of  pre-Revolutionary  days  discarded 
for  newly  manufactured  articles  largely  made  in  Canada; 
and,  from  the  ^^ver-popular  organ  to  the  horse-hair  Bof a,  every- 
thing in  the  farmhouses  had  begun  to  breathe  of  a  newer 
and  cheaper  age.  The  era  of  machinery  came  also  and  did 
away  with  the  workingman,  who,  in  large  farms,  had  almost 
constituted  villages  in  themselves.  The  rush  and  roar  of  the 
latter  end  of  the  nineteenth  century  has  affected  the  young 
men  of  the  farms  and  drawn  many  of  them  into  the  teeming 
cities  of  the  American  States,  or  to  the  growing  centres  of 
Ontario   itself.      The  boom  of  Western  progress   attracted 


474 


THE   STORY   OF   THE   DOMIMON 


others  and  many  a  mortgage  upon  the  homesteads  of  Ontario 
owed  its  origin  to  +he  settlement  of  sons  in  Manitoba  or  upon 
the  Western  plains.  The  question  of  the  farmer's  progress 
or  otherwise  is,  therefore,  a  debatable  one. 

The  area  for  his  work,  the  opportunities  of  agriculture,  the 
facilities  for  production,  have  all  immensely  increased.  In 
Ontario,  or  Upper  Canada  as  it  then  was,  the  area  occupied 
in  1826  was  3,353,000  acres  and  the  cultivated  area  599,000 
acres;  in  1841  the  figures  ■'^or  the  one  were  6,868,000  and  for 
the  other  1,811,000 ;  in  1891  the  former  amounted  to  21,- 
091,000  acres,  the  latter  to  14,157,000  acres.  This  is  an 
enormous  exppnsion  for  a  Provincial  population  which  only 
increased,  in  round  numbers,  from  half  a  million  to  two 
millions.  Added  to  this  was  the  opening  up  of  the  vast 
wheat-fields  of  the  West,  the  splendid  ranching  country  of 
the  Territories,  the  fruit-bearing  regions  of  British  Colum- 
bia. With  it  also  came  the  development  in  cattle  production 
marked  by  an  export  of  live  cattle  to  Great  Britain  in  the 
four  years,  1875-78,  which  was  valued  at  $1,118,000,  and  in 
1895-98  at  $27,552,000 ;  the  expansion  in  the  cheese  industry 
from  an  export  of  $620,000  in  1868  to  one  of  $16,776,000 
in  1899 ;  the  growth  of  the  export  trade  in  bacon  and  hams 
from  $783,000  in  1868  to  $10,416,478  in  1899 ;  the  fact  of 
a  total  shipment  to  Great  Britain  of  cattle,  horses,  and  sheep, 
between  1874  and  1897,  valued  at  $180,000,000. 

Against  these  evident  marks  and  signs  of  progress  must  be 
recorded  the  increase  of  debt  and  mortgages,  the  more  expen- 
sive habits  and  style  of  living,  the  decrease  in  prices  and 
values  of  property,  marked  in  Ontario  by  a  diminution  in  the 
value  of  farm  lands  of  $92,000,000  between  1886  and  1898. 
Upon  the  whole,  however,  the  Canadian  farmer  may  be  said, 
at  the  end  of  the  nineteenth  century,  to  be  better  off  than  most 
of  his  world-wide  competitors  and  to  possess  enough  of  com- 
forts and  a  sufficient  absence  of  nature's  abnormal  incidents 
— ^hurricanes,  insect  pests,  floods,  and  climatic  disasters  of 
different  kinds — to  mark  him  out  a  fairly  fortunate  man. 


THE   GROWTH   OF  NATIONAL   PROSPERITY 


476 


BAIL  WAYS,  CANALS,  AND  SHIPPING 

In  the  matter  of  railways,  Canada  has  made  progress  dur- 
ing its  last  fifty  years  of  history  which  should  be  sufficient  to 
stamp  its  people  as  an  enterprising  and  capable  population. 
When  Confederation  brought  the  scattered  Provinces  together 
there  were  only  two  thousand  miles  of  railway,  largely  in 
Ontario,  and  dreams  of  something  better.  Then  came  the 
construction  and  rapid  completion  of  the  Inter-Colonial  Rail- 
way, connecting  the  Atlantic  towns  with  the  City  of  Quebec 
and  ultimately  with  Montreal;  the  struggle  for  and  final 
creation  of  the  trans-continental  line  which  has  made  the  Do- 
minion a  national,  unit  in  all  matters  of  transportation  and 
intercommunication ;  the  building  of  many  other  lines  in  all 
the  Provinces  and  the  formation  of  a  general  system  which 
has  made  the  country  a  network  of  busy  railways,  running 
into  every  important  nook  and  corner,  and  totaling  up,  in 
1899,  to  over  seventeen  thousand  miles  of  track.  With  this 
period  and  part  of  the  country's  development  the  names  of 
Sir  William  Van  Home  and  Mr.  T.  G.  Shaughnessy  in  the 
later  history  and  management  of  the  Canadian  Pacific ;  those 
of  Charles  J.  Brydges,  Sir  Joseph  Hickson,  and  Charles  M. 
Hays  in  the  building  up  of  the  Grand  Trunk  system;  those 
of  George  Laidlaw,  F.  C.  Capreol,  and  Lieutenant-Colonel 
F.  W.  Cumberland,  in  the  construction  of  lesser  lines ;  those 
of  Sir  Sandford  Fleming,  Thomas  C.  Keefer,  and  Walter 
SLanly,  as  engineers  in  charge  of  construction,  were  inti- 
mately connected  and  should  be  remembered  and  recorded 
with  honor.  The  bulk  of  the  expansion  was  effected  between 
1875  and  1890,  and,  after  the  latter  date,  the  progress  con- 
tinued to  be  steady  and  sure.  In  1875  the  train  mileage  was, 
in  round  numbers,  seventeen  millions,  in  1899  it  was  fifty-two 
millions.  The  number  of  passengers  rose  in  the  same  period 
from  five  to  nineteen  millions,  the  tons  of  freight  carried 
from  five  to  thirty-one  millions,  the  earnings  from  nineteen 
to  sixty-two  millions  of  dollars,  the  working  expenses  from 
fifteen  to  forty  millions.  ;  .  -i 


!ii 


11 


. 


476 


THE   STORY    OF   THE   DOMINION 


Meanwhile,  the  canal  system  which  connects  the  Great 
Lakes  with  the  St.  Lawrence  and  thence,  through  a  reason- 
able deepening  of  the  river  itself  at  certain  points,  with  the 
Atlantic,  developed  steadily  and  at  great  cost  Canal  con- 
struction had  been  an  evident  necessity  from  the  earliest  pe- 
riod of  British  occupation  in  the  country,  and,  even  before 
the  division  of  the  Province  in  1791,  it  was  urgently  advo- 
cated. In  1815,  a  Legislative  effort  was  made  to  begin  the 
work  by  making  the  Lachine  Canal  above  Montreal,  but  with- 
out success,  and  it  was  not  until  six  years  later  that  opera- 
tions really  commenced.  Toward  its  construction  the  B^'itish 
Government  contributed  $400,000,  and  the  same  Government 
defrayed  aliuost  the  entire  expense  of  building  the  Rideau 
Canal  between  Ottawa  and  Kingston — $3,911,000 — as  well 
as  giving  $222,000  to  aid  the  Welland  Canal  project.  Very 
slowly  other  improvements  in  the  St.  Lawrence  navigation 
were  effected.  The  Beauharnois  Canal  was  opened  in  1845, 
and  some  fifty  years  later  replaced  by  the  Soulanges  Canal; 
the  Cornwall  was  opened  in  1843;  the  Williamsburg  Series 
of  three  canals  was  completed  in  1856 ;  the  Welland  Canal, 
after  prolonged  pioneer  work  by  the  Hon.  William  Hamilton 
Merritt  and  many  political  and  financial  difficulties  and  fail- 
ures, was  commenced  in  1821,  and  sufficiently  completed  to 
I)ermit  of  its  use  a  dozen  years  later.  The  Richelieu  Canals, 
connecting  the  St.  Lawrence  with  Hudson  River  via  the 
Richelieu  and  Lake  Champlain,  were  practically  commenced, 
after  much  controversy,  in  1835,  and  were  in  a  sort  of  work- 
ing order  by  1843.  <J 
•;&  None  of  these  works,  however,  was  really  completed  at  the 
time  of  opening.  Changes  and  enlargements  and  improve- 
ments and,  sometimes,  complete  renewals  had  to  be  effected. 
The  Provinces  were  poor,  and,  up  to  the  Union  in  1841, 
Lower  Canada  would  do  little  or  nothing  to  encourage  devel- 
opments of  this  nature.  Its  public  men  were  too  busy  fight- 
ing for  fancies  and  warring  against  wind-mills  to  care  about 
coming  down  to  practical  everyday  considerations,  such  as 
the  promotion  of  transportation  facilities.     Besides,  such  ao- 


T" 


THE    GROWTH   OF  NATIONAL    PROSPERITY 


477 


tion  might  have  helped  the  detested  English  merchant,  and 
this  could  hardly  be  a  popular  possibility  to  the  French  dema- 
gogue of  1820-37.  Much,  howpver,  was  done  by  men  like 
the  Hon.  John  Yoang,  Sir  Hugh  Allan,  and  W.  Hamilton 
Merritt,  and,  between  1841  and  Confederation,  considerable 
progress  was  made  and  a  total  of  $21,000,000  expended. 
The  foundation  had,  in  fact,  been  laid,  and,  after  1867, 
money  was  freely  spent — to  the  tune  of  $34,000,000  up  to 
1889 — in  deepening,  enlarging,  and  strengthening  the  sys- 
tem. A  uniform  depth  of  fourteen  feet  in  the  whole  vast 
waterway  has  been  aimed  at,  and,  in  1897,  over  $4,000,000 
more  were  voted  by  Parliament  to  complete  this  policy. 
•  The  development  of  transportation  upon  lake  and  river 
and  ocean  has  had  a  most  important  influence  upon  Canadian 
progress.  The  Indian  birch-bark  canoe  was  early  replaced 
by  the  French  hateau  and  the  Durham  flat-bottomed  boat. 
Upon  the  Great  Lakes,  also,  sailing  vessels  of  various  kinds 
soon  found  a  place  in  the  stunted  commerce  of  the  period. 
The  immense  number  of  rivers  and  the  absence  of  roads 
made  water  transport  naturally  popular  with  the  pioneer 
traders,  although  the  absence  of  canals  and  deepening  facili- 
ties rendered  a  great  deal  of  portaging — the  carrying  of 
boats  over  or  around  an  obstruction — necessary.  The  first 
steamer  plying  between  Montreal  and  Quebec,  on  the  St. 
Lawrence,  vas  built  by  Mr.  John  Molson  in  1811,  and  twelve 
years  later  there  were  a  dozen  of  them.  lu  1816,  Lake  On- 
tario saw  its  first  steamer  in  the  Frontenac,  built  at  a  cost  of 
$75,000,  and  within  twenty  years  from  that  time  all  the 
larger  bodies  of  water  throughout  the  country  had  steam- 
boats plying  between  the  principal  ports.  With  Mr.  Molson 
in  the  pioneer  labors  of  this  development  were  chiefly  asso- 
ciated John  and  David  Torrance,  Sir  Hugh  Allan,  and  the 
Hon.  John  Hamilton.  The  first  steamer  on  the  Red  River 
in  the  far  West  commenced  operations  in  1859 ;  on  the  Pa- 
cific Coast  the  first  to  ply  between  its  various  fur-bearing  posts 
of  the  Hudson's  Bay  Company  was  the  Beaver,  which  came 
out  in  1835  from  England — after  being  launched  by  King 


478 


THE  STORY  OF   THE  DOMINION 


William  IV  in  the  presence  of  a  great  gathering  of  people. 
In  the  Atlantic  Provinces,  the  splendid  harbor  of  Halifax 
was  first  entered  by  a  steamer  on  August  31,  1831,  when  the 
Royal  William  steamed  in  from  Quebec  and  entered  upon  its 
career  as  the  pioneer  steamship  of  the  vast  Atlantic  traffic  of 
the  end  of  the  century. 

Nine  years  later  the  Cunard  line,  founded  by  Sir  Samuel 
Cunard,  commenced  to  call  at  Halifax,  though  it  soon  after- 
ward made  New  York  its  American  terminus.  The  first 
coasting  steamer  of  this  region  had  been  launched  at  St.  John 
in  1816.  In  the  year  1900  thei-e  are  many  lines  of  steam- 
ships running  from  Quebec,  Montreal,  Halifax,  or  St.  John 
to  Great  Britain,  the  United  States,  tlie  West  Indies,  South 
America,  and  Newfoundland ;  while  from  Vancouver,  on  the 
Pacific-  similar  lines  run  to  the  American  Pacific  cities,  to 
Honolulu,  Australia,  Hong-Kong,  and  Japan.  Of  these  va- 
rious transportation  agencies,  the  Allan  Line  was  started  in 
1852  by  Mr.  Hugh  Allan,  the  Dominion  Line  in  1870,  the 
Richelieu  and  Ontario  Navigation  Company  in  1845.  The 
latter  was  reorganized  in  1882  by  Mr.  L.  A.  Senecal,  a  noted 
figure  in  the  financial  life  of  Quebec.  The  Canadian  Pa- 
cific Railway  Lines  were  started  on  the  Pacific  in  1891,  and 
preceded  by  large  boats  upon  the  Great  Lakes  under  the  same 
management.  By  the  year  1896,  the  Canadian  tonnage  ar- 
riving at  Canadian  ports  included  6,810  vessels  of  1,067,000 
tons,  1,684  British  vessels  of  2,350,000  tons,  and  6,797  for- 
eign vessels  of  5,845,000  tons.  - '^^^^  J 

The  shipbuilding  industry  had,  of  course,  an  intimate  con- 
nection with  Canadian  development  along  these  lines.  The 
immense  inland  resources  of  forest  and  timber  made  Quebec 
and  the  Atlantic  Coast  ideal  places  for  building  ships  in  the 
days  before  iron  and  steel  had  worked  their  industrial  and 
naval  revolution.  As  far  back  as  1672,  Talon,  the  eminent 
Intendant  of  New  France,  ordered  the  building  of  a  ship  at 
Quebec.  During  the  century  which  followed,  mainly  under 
the  French  rSgime,  shipbuilding  was  but  a  fitful  pursuit,  as 
were  all  industrial  and  commercial  matters  in  that  peiiod. 


is 


IHE    GROWTH    OF  NATIONAL   PROSPERITY 


479 


After  1787,  however,  the  trade  revived  and  increased  from 
a  production  of  10  ships  of  933  tons  in  that  year  to  84  ships 
of  21,616  tons  in  1875 — a  total  during  the  whole  period  of 
3,873  ships,  with  a  tonnage  of  1,285,000.  Latterly  the  trade 
has  diminished,  but,  at  Quebec  as  in  Nova  Scotia,  it  is  not 
improbable  that  modem  constructive  materials  and  methods 
will  yet  revive  the  old  glories  of  the  industry.  In  the  latter 
Province,  the  palmy  days  of  shipbuilding  were  in  the  middle 
of  the  nineteenth  centnry,  when  Halifax,  Yannouth,  Windsor, 
and  Pictou  were  great  centres  of  production,  and  Nova  Scotia 
bottoms  were  to  be  found  in  every  port  of  the  maritime  world. 
Decay  has  come  to  the  industry  since  1882,  and  the  only 
hope  of  revival  lies  in  the  utilization  of  the  coal  and  iron 
which  lie  side  by  side,  almost  upon  the  coast,  and  might  well 
form  the  basis  of  a  great  future  in  iron  and  steel  shipbuilding. 

'  '  BANKING  DEVELOPMENT 

Canadian  general  progress  owes  much  to  the  banking  sys- 
tem of  the  Dominion.  Like  every  other  interest  or  institu- 
tion in  the  country,  it  has  experienced  ups  and  downs  and 
faced  difficulties  and  dangers.  When  the  Quebec  Bank  and 
Bank  of  Montreal  were  started  in  1817,  in  the  then  cLief 
centres  of  trade  and  business,  the  banking  of  the  country 
consisted  in  managing  its  shipments  of  furs  and  transport  of 
timber  and  in  lending  money  to  the  men  engaged  in  opera- 
tions which  covered  thousands  of  miles  of  wilderness  in  Up- 
per Canada  and  the  far  West.  In  time  other  banks  started. 
The  Bank  of  British  North  America  was  established  by 
London  capitalists  in  1836.  The  Bank  of  Upper  Canada  was 
organized  in  1823  by  men  largely  interested  in  the  dominant 
party  of  that  day  and  it  continued  during  many  years  of  great 
prosperity  and  eventual  adversity  to  be  somewhat  of  a  po- 
litical institution.  The  Commercial  Bank  of  the  Midland 
District,  in  the  same  Province,  was  formed  in  1832  and 
others  followed  until,  in  1859,  after  the  commercial  crisis 
of  the  preceding  year  had  come  and  gone,  there  were  fifteen 
banks  in  the  Canadas  with  a  capital  of  $24,000,000  as  againsi 


480 


THE   STORY   OF   THE   DOMINION 


$3,000,000  when  originally  chartered.  In  the  Maritime 
Provinces  the  Bank  of  Nova  Scotia,  one  of  the  earliest  and 
also  one  of  the  most  notable  institutions,  was  organized  in 
1832.  In  point  of  time  it  was  preceded  by  the  Bank  of  New 
Brunswick  which  had  been  incorporated  in  1820. 

Smaller  institutions  came  and  went  in  all  the  Provinces 
until,  at  Confederation  in  1867,  the  Bank  of  Montreal  with 
its  twenty-nine  branches  and  a  capital  of  $6,000,000,  the 
Bank  of  British  North  America  with  its  twelve  branches  and 
capital  of  $4,866,000,  the  Commercial  Bank  of  Canada  with 
its  eighteen  branches  and  $4,000,000  capital,  were  the  prin- 
cipal institutions.  There  were  then  twenty-eight  banks,  al- 
together, with  125  branches  and  a  paid-up  capital  of  $32,000,- 
000.  The  system,  as  existing  in  that  year,  and  not  yet  ma- 
tured and  consolidated  by  Federal  legislation,  was  a  product 
of  varied  experiments  and  experiences.  The  early  banking 
of  the  country  had  been  carried  on  by  American  methods; 
although,  as  time  went  on,  the  Scotch  ideas  of  the  founders 
came  more  and  more  into  effect  and  the  internal  manage- 
ment of  the  banks  largely  followed  British  methods.  The 
inauguration  of  the  branch  system  strengthened  this  tendency 
and  marked  an  important  differt  "^.tiation  from  American 
models.  Still,  there  was  a  strong  Legislative  tendency  to 
copy  the  United  States  in  financial  matters,  and,  from  time 
to  time,  dangerous  experiments  were  tried — such,  for  in- 
stance, as  the  suspension  of  specie  payments  in  1837  against 
which  Sir  Francis  Bond  Head  had  protested  so  vigorously 
and  uselessly  to  his  Upper  Canadian  Legislature.  To  the 
intervention  at  this  time  of  the  Imperial  Government,  the 
wise  despatches  of  Lord  Glenelg,  Colonial  Secretary,  and  the 
later  series  of  regulations  propounded  by  Lord  John  Russell, 
Canada  owes  much  of  the  stability  and  success  of  its  present 
system.  The  proposals  of  Lord  J.  Russell  in  1840  form,  in 
fact,  the  basis  of  Canadian  banking  charters  and  laws. 
'  At  Confederation,  the  Government  was  faced  with  the 
necessity  of  a  thorough  reorganization  of  the  banking  system 
of  the  country.    Practically  it  had  to  be  federalized  and  made 


THE    GROWTH   OF  NATIONAL   PROSPERITY 


481 


into  a  national  institution.  The  preliminaries  were  gone  into 
by  the  Finance  Minister,  Mr.  (afterward  Sir)  John  Rose, 
largely  in  consultation  with  Mr.  E.  H.  King,  who  was  then 
head  of  the  Bank  of  Montreal  and  the  leading  banker  in 
Canada.  Influenced  by  Mr.  King  and,  perhaps,  by  his  own 
financial  fancies,  he  proposed  to  establish  what  was,  in  the 
main,  the  American  system  of  banking  and  currency.  The 
proposals,  as  eventually  presented  to  Parliament,  excited  the 
keenest  controversy,  were  vigorously  denounced  by  Mr. 
George  Brown  and  the  Toronto  "Globe,"  and  were  eventu- 
ally withdrawn.  Sir  Francis  Hincks  succeeded  Mr.  Rose  in 
the  Ministry  of  Finance  and,  in  March,  1870,  introduced  a 
series  of  Resolutions  which  were  finally  passed  and  under 
which  the  existing  system  was  established.  Under  succeed- 
ing Finance  Ministers  every  decade  has  seen  a  revision  and 
improvement  of  existing  arrangements  and  Sir  Leonard  Til- 
ley,  Mr.  George  E.  Foster,  and  Mr.  W.  S.  Fielding  have  each 
had  to  do  with  this  perfecting  of  banking  legislation. 

The  statistical  progress  of  banking  since  Confederation 
has  been  very  great.  The  paid-up  capital  of  Canadian  banks 
has  increased  from  $30,000,000  in  1868,  in  round  numbers, 
to  $62,000,000  in  1896 ;  the  notes  in  circulation  from  $9,000,- 
000  to  $31,000,000;  the  deposits  from  $33,000,000  to  $193,- 
000,000;  the  discounts  from  $52,000,000  to  $213,000,000. 
The  total  assets  in  1868  were  $79,000,000  and  the  liabilities 
$45,000,000.  In  1896  they  were,  respectively,  $320,000,000 
and  $232,000,000.  Some  of  the  representative  bankers  in 
early  days  were  Thomas  G.  Ridout  of  the  Bank  of  Upper 
Canada  and  the  successive  General  Managers  of  the  Bank 
of  Montreal — Benjamin  Holmes,  Alexander  Simpson,  David 
Davidson,  and  E.  H.  King.  Later  occupants  of  this  position, 
as  the  bank  rose  into  one  of  the  three  or  four  greatest  finan- 
cial institutions  in  the  world,  were,  of  course,  men  of  much 
ability  and  wide  influence.  R.  B.  Angus,  C.  F.  Smithers, 
W.  J.  Buchanan,  and  E.  S.  Clouston  have,  in  their  turn, 
had  a  substantial  share  in  the  development  of  Canada  and 
one  which  the  average  historian  is  far  too  ready  to  overlook 


■  !l 


DOMINION — 21 


482 


THE  STORY   OF   THE  DOMINION 


in  favx)r  of  the  utterances  of  some  prominent  politician  as 
he  floats  by  on  a  passing  wave  of  popular  opinion.  James 
Stevenson  of  the  Quebec  Bank,  George  Hague  of  the  Mer- 
chants Bank,  D.  R.  Wilkie  of  the  Imperial  Bank,  Byron  E. 
Walker  of  the  Canadian  Bank  of  Commerce,  Thomas  Fyshe 
of  the  Bank  of  Nova  Scotia,  are  men  of  a  later  period  and 
of  considerable  public  influence. 

In  other  directions  Canadian  development  has  been  pro- 
nounced. Partly  because  of  the  protection  given  to  its  in- 
dustries by  the  tariff  and  partly  because  of  the  growing  efii- 
ciency  of  manufacturers  and  increase  of  population  in  the 
country,  there  has  been  considerable  industrial  development. 
In  1891,  there  were,  according  to  the  census  returns,  75,941 
manufacturing  establishments  in  Canada,  with  a  working 
capital  of  $181,000,000  and  which  employed  370,000 
men,  women,  and  children,  paid  out  $100,000,000  in 
wages,  used  raw  material  to  the  value  of  $256,000,000 
and  had  a  total  production  valued  at  $476,000,000.  An  im- 
portant national  interest  and  industry  of  Canada  has  always 
been  its  fisheries,  and  sometimes  they  have  also  proved  a 
factor  of  international  importance.  The  fish  of  the  Great 
Lakes,  of  the  lesser  bodies  of  water  scattered  in  immense 
numbers  throughout  all  the  Provinces  and,  especially,  in  the 
far  north  and  west,  between  Lake  Superior,  Hudson's  Bay, 
and  the  Arctic  Ocean,  of  the  rivers  flowing  in  all  directions 
throughout  the  three  million  square  miles  of  Canadian  ter- 
ritory, are  inexhaustible  in  variety  and  numbers. 

The  sea-fisheries  on  the  Atlantic  Coast  of  Canada  are  of 
great  value  though  the  annual  average  production  does  not 
exceed  ten  million  dollars.  Cod,  herring,  lobsters,  salmon, 
haddock,  halibut,  and  hake  on  the  Atlantic,  with  seal  and 
salmon  on  the  Pacific  and  whitefish,  salmon-trout,  sturgeon, 
pickerel,  pike,  black-bass,  perch,  and  carp  in  the  lakes  and 
rivers,  are  the  most  numerous  and  best  known  products  of 
these  varied  waters.  Since  1869  the  value  of  the  fish  ex- 
tracted from  the  lakes  and  rivers  and  seaboard  of  the  various 
Provinces  is  stated  at  $23,000,000  for  Ontario,  $54,000,000 


TUB   GROWTH   OF  NATIONAL   PROSPERITY 


488 


for  Quebec,  $18,000,000  for  Nova  Scotia,  $81,000,000  for 
New  Brunswick,  $5,600,000  for  the  North-Wcst,  $45,000,- 
000  for  British  Columbia,  $25,000,000  for  little  Prince  Ed- 
ward  Island.  In  the  seal  lisheries  of  British  Columbia,  about 
which  there  has  been  such  pronounced  international  contro- 
versy, there  were  some  14,000  Canadians  engaged  in  1895, 
with  sixty-one  vessels  and  638  boats  and  canoes.  Away  to 
the  furthest  north  of  the  Dominion  are  the  richest  whaling- 
grounds  in  the  world — the  last  resort  of  the  leviathans.  The 
walrus,  sea-trout,  the  inconnu,  pike,  sturgeon,  and  other  fish, 
also  abound  in  these  waters.  To  sum  up,  it  may  be  said  that 
the  estimated  value  of  the  product  of  Canadian  fisheries  was 
$150,000  in  1850,  six  and  a  half  millions  in  1870,  fourteen 
millions  in  1880,  thirty  millions  in  1900. 

Such  has  been  the  material  progress  of  Canada  in  its  more 
important  aspects.  It  has  been  considerable,  and  the  picture 
as  a  whole  reveals  a  panorama  of  development  which  makes 
some  measure  of  pride  not  unbecoming  in  the  Canadian  of 
the  last  day?  of  the  nineteenth  century.  But  it  is  nothing 
in  comparison  xo  the  resources  and  possibilities  afforded  by 
the  waterways,  the  fertile  plains  and  soil,  the  vast  mineral 
regions,  and  the  rich  fisheries  of  the  Dominion.  Much  has 
been  done  by  legislation  to  help  the  development  of  these  re- 
sources, and,  perhaps,  the  most  pronounced  lesson  taught  by 
Canadian  history,  outside  of  the  teachings  afforded  by  a  per- 
sistent loyalty  among  the  people  to  British  connection  and  the 
Crown,  is  the  importance  of  legislation  dealing  with  the  pro- 
motion of  material  wealth  and  the  comparative  unimportance 
of  mere  party  conflicts  and  even  constitutional  struggles. 


1  i. 


484 


THE   STORY   OF   THE   DOMINION 


CHAPTER  XXX 


EXTERNAL  RELATIONS   OF   THE  DOMINION 


THE  relations  between  Great  Britain  and  Canada  during 
the  period  of  their  connection  under  the  Crown  have 
no  exact,  or  even  near,  parallel  in  history.  British 
America  was  acquired  in  the  first  place  rather  as  a  gradu- 
ated result  of  the  world-wide  struggle  between  France  and 
England  than  because  of  any  set  British  plan  or  purpose.  It 
was  not  conquered  because  any  particular  value  was  expected 
to  accrue  from  its  acquisition,  nor  was  it  retained  for  any 
other  reason  than  a  feeling  of  responsibility  to  its  people  and 
honor  in  its  possession.  Incidentally,  the  determination  not 
to  let  France  extend  its  power  by  retaining  the  country  after 
its  final  British  conquest  had  something  to  do  with  the  situ- 
ation; while,  as  a  dim  perception  commenced  to  enter  the 
English  mind  after  the  Treaty  of  1783  with  the  United 
States  that,  perhaps,  the  American  child  of  Revolution  was 
not  as  willing  to  be  friendly  as  was  expected,  or  desired,  a  de- 
termination not  to  enhance  American  power  by  the  cession, 
or  neglect,  of  the  Northern  Provinces  also  became  a  lever  in 
their  retention. 

Prior  to  this  time  the  whole  region  had  been  a  veritable 
shuttlecock  of  fortune ;  mere  cards  in  a  great  game  of  Euro- 
pean war  and  maritime  adventure.  Kew  France,  Acadie, 
and  the  Hudson's  Bay  Company  had  been  mixed  up  in  whole, 
or  in  part,  in  numerous  treaties  before  the  final  settlement 
came.  The  Treaty  of  Susa  in  1629,  the  Treaty  of  St.  Ger- 
main-en-Laye  in  1632,  the  Treaty  of  Westminster  in  1655, 
the  Treaty  of  Buda  in  1667,  the  Treaty  of  Ryswick  in  1697, 
the  Treaty  of  Utrecht  in  1713,  the  Treaty  of  Aix-la-Chapelle 
in  1748,  all  dealt  with  the  interests  or  territory  of  the  scat- 
tered population  of  the  region  which  now  constitutes  the  Do- 
/flinion.    With  the  settlement  afforded  by  the  Treaty  of  Paris, 


EXTERNAL   RELATIONS   OF   THE  DOMINION        486 

in  1763,  came  a  new  i"omplication  in  affairs,  the  removal  of 
a  foreign  factor  from  the  American  scene — exrjept  in  the  far 
Sonth — and  the  creation  of  a  common  tie  of  allegiance  be- 
tween the  one-time  French  and  English  Colonial  enemies. 

Twenty  years  sufficed  to  change  conditions  again,  and,  by 
the  Treaty  of  1783,  to  recognize  the  Thirteen  Colonies  as  an 
independent  and  alien  Power  and  to  constitute  the  French 
population,  by  the  strange  irony  of  fate,  as  the  guardians  of 
British  territory  and  its  restricted  continental  influence.  The 
Treaty  did  more  than  this.  Relying  upon  anticipated  Ameri- 
can friendship,  free  trade,  and  alliance,  it  endowed  the 
United  States  with  all  the  vast  natural  wealth  of  the  Missis- 
sippi and  the  Ohio  valleys  and  just  avoided  transferring  Que- 
bec to  the  same  country  and  people.  It,  in  fact,  provided  the 
United  States  with  "gigantic  boundaries  on  the  south  and  west 
and  north  which  determined  its  coming  power  and  influ- 
ence." *  Other  treaties  relating  to  boundaries,  and  ineffec- 
tive in  operation  except  as  they  tended  to  advance  American 
claims  and  to  continually  indicate  a  British  spirit  of  concilia- 
tion, were  signed  in  1794  and  in  1803  by  representatives  of 
the  two  countries.  '    ;*  .  • 

In  a  territorial  sense,  therefore,  the  Dominion  of  Canada 
was  bom  out  of  a  condition  of  absolute  indifference  on  the 
part  of  Great  Britain,  and,  until  the  legislation  of  1791,  was 
cradled  in  a  state  of  happy  ignorance.  The  War  of  1812  ef- 
fected changes  of  great  importance.  It  settled  the  drift  of 
destiny  for  at  least  forty  years  along  British  lines ;  it  estab- 
lished a  new  and  strong  tie  between  Great  Britain  and  the 
immense,  unknown  territory  which  had  been  thus  preserved 
to  the  Crown  by  the  bravery  of  its  sons ;  it  drew  a  line  of  fluc- 
tuating, but  still  distinct  character,  against  American  ex- 
pansion to  the  north.  The  Treaty  of  Ghent,  in  1814,  by 
which  the  struggle  was  concluded,  contained  no  very  new  as- 
sertions or  principles,  though  out  of  it  came  a  couple  of  some- 
what important  arrangements.     By  an  informal  diplomatic 

•  Justin  Winsor's  "America."    V.  17,  p.  150. 


1 


486 


THE  STORY   OF   THE   DOMINION 


agreement  between  Sir  Charles  Bagot,  British  Minister  at 
Washington,  and  Mr.  Kichard  Rush,  Acting-Secretary  of 
State,  in  April,  1817,  it  was  decided  that  all  armed  vessels 
on  the  Great  Lakes  should  be  dismantled  and  no  more  built, 
or  armed  therein.  Great  Britain  and  the  United  States 
should,  however,  each  be  allowed  one  vessel,  not  exceeding 
one  hundred  tons  burden  and  armed  with  an  eighteen-pound 
cannon,  on  Lakes  Ontario  and  Champlain,  and  two  similar  ves- 
sels on  the  Upper  Lakes.  The  agreement  was  to  be  binding 
until  six  months'  notice  was  given  by  either  Power,  and, 
though  never  formally  ratified  by  Congress  or  specially  ap- 
proved by  Parliament,  it  has  since  come  to  have  the  force  of 
a  treaty. 

EARLY   NEaOTIATIONS   AND   TREATIES 


The  Convention  of  London,  in  1818,  was  negotiated  and 
signeJ  with  a  view  to  the  settlement  of  the  fisheries  question 
and  the  claims  made  by  the  United  States  to  fish  freely  in 
British  waters.  The  matter  has  been  partly  gone  into  else- 
where in  this  volume,  but  it  is  of  such  importance  to  a  com- 
prehension of  general  international  relations  that  the  Con- 
vention may  be  stated  here  to  have  given  United  States  fish- 
ermen the  right  to  fish  outside  of  a  three-mile  limit  of  the 
British  shores  in  America  and  to  enter  British  bays  or  har- 
bors for  shelter,  food,  water,  and  repairs.  At  the  same  ■'ime, 
the  United  States  Government  renounced  definitely  any  lib- 
erty on  the  part  of  their  fishermen  to  take,  dry,  or  cure  fish 
on,  or  within  three  miles  of,  the  coast  of  British  North  Amer- 
ica. So  far  the  arrangement  was  a  good  one  for  the  Colo- 
nists and  their  country.  At  this  point,  however,  the  terms  of 
the  Convention  passed  on  to  deal  with  boundary  matters  and 
a  combination  of  British  indifference  to  territory  and  of  utter 
ignorance  of  American  character,  aggressiveness,  and  ambi- 
tions marked  every  phase  of  the  negotiations — as  they  con- 
tinued to  do  for  another  half  century.  It  was  provided  that 
the  international  boundary  should  be  along  the  49th  parallel 
of  north  latitude  from  the  Lake  of  the  Woods  to  the  Rocky 


Vil 


EXTERNAL   RELATIONS   OF  THE   DOMINION        487 

Mountains  and  that  the  country  west  of  that  great  range, 
which  was  claimed  by  either  party,  should  be  free  and  open 
to  the  people  of  both  nations  for  ten  years. 
/  Such  an  extraordinary  clause  as  the  latter  was,  perhaps, 
never  included  in  a  treaty  before.  The  claims  of  the  Ameri- 
cans to  any  of  the  country  now  included  in  the  States  of  Ore- 
gon and  Washington  were,  at  best,  tentative  and  very  weak. 
It  is  not  likely  that  a  strong  stand  would  have  been  resented 
at  this  time  to  the  point  of  war,  and,  if  it  had  to  come  to  that 
issue,  ten  years'  prolongation  of  the  claims  and  agitation 
could  only  serve  to  strengthen  American'  feelings,  American 
rights  of  occupation,  and  American  power.  The  "settlement" 
simply  postponed  consideration  of  the  matter  until  United 
States  citizens  should  have  time  to  pour  into  the  country  and 
claim  it  by  virtue  of  present  colonization,  if  not  by  right  of 
discovery,  or  early  and  temporary  occupation.  Excuse  for 
the  apparently  utter  absence  of  statecraft  in  this  arrangement 
is,  perhaps,  found  in  the  severe  sufferings  and  increased  pov- 
erty of  the  poor  classes  in  Great  Britain  which  followed  upon 
the  conclusion  of  the  tremendous  struggle  with  Napoleon; 
the  rising  influence  of  George  Canhing  and  his  policy  of  at- 
tempted alliance  with  the  United  States  against  the  despotic 
Powers  of  Europe  as  voiced  in  the  creation  of  the  original 
Monroe  Doctrine;  the  entire  absence  in  the  public  mind  of 
England  of  any  knowledge  or  appreciation  of  the  possible 
value  of  these  regions — a  condition  brought  home  to  Canadians 
themselves  more  than  a  century  later  by  Mr.  Blake's  descrip- 
tion of  British  Columbia  as  nothing  but  a  "sea  of  mountains." 
The  next  Treaty  affecting  British  America  was  that  of 
1825,  between  Great  Britain  and  Russia,  by  which  it  was 
provided  that  "the  subjects  of  His  Britannic  Majesty,  from 
whatever  quarter  they  may  arrive,  whether  from  the  ocean  or 
from  the  interior  of  the  continent,  shall  forever  enjoy  the 
right  of  navigating  freely  and  without  any  hindrance  what- 
ever, all  the  rivers  (in  Alaska)  which  in  their  course  toward 
the  Pacific  Ocean  may  cross  the  line  of  demarcation."  This 
clause  was  considered,  and  admitted,  as  binding  upon  tho 


488 


THE  STORY  OF   THE  DOMINION 


United  States  when  the  Kepublic  afterward  purchased  and 
took  over  the  country  from  Russia.  In  1842  and  1846 
came  two  arrangements  with  the  United  States  which  stamp 
the  astuteness  of  American  leaders  and  the  blunders  of  Brit- 
ish statecraft  in  broad  and  vivid  outline  upon  the  map  of 
Canada. 

Around  and  through  them  runs  that  thread  of  political 
thought  which  did  so  much  in  its  day  to  diminish  British 
power  and  to  weaken  British  prestige — ^the  policy  of  the  Man- 
chester School.  What  were  territorial  rights,  or  the  future 
interests  of  Canadians,  or  the  development  of  British  power 
on  the  American  continent,  in  comparison  with  an  undisturbed 
peace  which  might  facilitate  the  sale  of  a  few  more  bales  of 
cotton  goods  and  promote  immunity  from  increased  respon- 
sibility or  a  little  fresh  taxation  ?  They  were  nothing  to  men 
like  John  Bright,  who  had  now  begun  to  dominate  public  sen- 
timent in  England  upon  questions  of  this  kind  and  who  was 
able,  not  long  after  these  events,  to  express  pious  and  cosmo- 
politan a8T3irations  for  a  future  American  Republic  which 
should  stretch  in  one  unbroken  expanse  of  life  and  liberty 
and  happiness  from  southern  seas  to  the  Arctic  regions! 

TREATIES  OF  1842  AND  1846 

The  Maine  and  Oregon  bouidary  questions,  which  were 
disposed  of  by  these  Treaties,  very  nearly  carried  the  two 
nations  into  war.  Had  one  of  them  been  any  other  than 
Great  Britain,  with  her  lack  of  territorial  ambition  and  her 
good-natured  endurance  of  youthful  American  aggressiveness, 
Buch  a  result  would  have  been  certain.  The  description  of 
United  States  policy  and  diplomacy,  as  being,  usually,  vig- 
orous to  the  point  of  aggression  and  forcible  beyond  the 
bounds  of  European  etiquette,  is  not  necessarily  one  of 
censure.  The  authorities  at  Washington,  in  all  these  ne- 
gotiations and  wars  of  a  century,  believed  in  the  value  of 
Continental  soil  and  in  the  importance  of  rounding  off  their 
territories  north  and  south — ^whether  by  the  acquisition  of 
California,  Nevada,  and  ITew  Mexico,  the  annexation  of  Texas, 


EXTERNAL   RELATIONS  OF   THE   DOMINION 


489 


or  the  acquisition  of  a  part  of  New  Brunswick  and  the  States 
of  Oregon  and  Washington.  They  had  a  distinct,  though  not 
always  direct,  policy  of  expansion,  and  that  they  followed  this 
up  at  the  expense  of  Canada  and  Great  Britain  reflects  credit 
upon  their  astuteness  and  only  discredit  up'>n  the  statecraft 
of  England.  Well-meant  friendliness  or  conciliation,  when 
not  reciprocated,  is  simply  weakness  of  the  worst  kind. 

The  Maine  question  had  been  simmerirg  since  1783,  when 
the  Treaty  of  that  year  determined  the  boundary  between  the 
State  and  the  Province  of  'New  Brunswick  to  be  the  St. 
Croix  River,  with  a  line  drawn  from  its  source  to  the  high- 
lands dividing  the  waters  falling  into  the  Atlantic  from  those 
emptying  into  the  St.  Lawrence.  The  first  form  of  the  dis- 
pute was  as  to  which  river  was  the  true  St.  Croix.  This  was 
settled  against  the  Americans  by  a  discovery  of  the  remains 
of  De  Monts's  unfortunate  colony  on  the  island  at  its  mouth. 
Then,  as  the  river  had  branches  widely  separated  at  the 
mouth,  the  issue  turned  upon  which  branch  was  meant  in  the 
Treaty.  This  was  also  settled  in  favor  of  the  British  by  spe- 
cial Commissioners.  Then,  finally,  the  dispute  turned  upon 
the  highlands;  what  they  were  and  where  they  were.  The 
American  claim  would  have  given  the  United  States  many  of 
the  largest  tributaries  of  the  St.  John  and  a  large  part  of 
New  Brunswick.  Not  an  iota  of  their  contention  would  they 
abandon,  or  compromise,  and  ultimately,  as  settlers  came  into 
the  disputed  region,  matters  grew  serious. 

After  a  particularly  violent  quarrel,  involving  the  de- 
spatch of  British  troops  and  Maine  militia  to  the  scene,  the 
question  was  referred,  in  1829,  to  the  arbitration  of  the  King 
of  the  Netherlands.  He  declared,  after  prolonged  examina- 
tion, that  the  matter  was  beyond  his  power  to  determine,  and 
suggested  a  division  of  the  territory  in  dispute.  This  was 
acceptable  to  neither  country,  and  the  quarrel  dragged  on 
until  1839,  when  American  cities  bordering  upon  Upper  Can- 
ada were  sending  out  hordes  of  Fenian  and  other  filibusters 
to  prey  upon  their  neighbor's  territory.  From  Maine  went 
a  lot  of  lumbermen,  who  entered  the  disputed  territory  to  take 


m 


490 


THE   STORY    OF   THE   DOMINION 


logs  and  in  the  face  of  the  laws  of  both  State  and  Province. 
The  authorities  of  Maine  and  New  Brunswick  each  de- 
spatched men  to  guard  their  interests,  and  a  fight  took  place 
amid  the  snow  and  ice  of  the  forest  wilderness.  Sir  John 
Harvey,  Governor  of  New  Brunswick,  immediately  issued  a 
proclamation  asserting  British  rights  and  demanding  the  re- 
tirement of  American  troops.  Governor  Fairfield,  of  Maine, 
responded  by  calling  out  10,000  troops  for  active  service. 

WAR   WITH    AMEBICA   IMMINENT 

War  seemed  imminent.  Daniel  Webster  and  other  an- 
tagonists of  England  in  the  Kejjublic  clamored  for  the  arbit- 
rament of  force.  The  papers  and  the  politicians  were  full 
of  determination  to  take  the  territory.  New  Brunswick  re- 
sponded by  sending  regiments  and  artillery  and  volunteers 
to  the  front,  and  the  whole  Province  teemed  with  loyal  ex- 
citement. The  Canadas  promised  substantial  aid,  and  Nova 
Scotia  voted  £100,000  and  all  her  militia  amid  intense  en- 
thusiasm and  in  a  crowded  House.  Great  Britain  tempo- 
rized, however,  and  the  London  "Times,"  then  and  for  many 
years  the  narrow  but  powerful  organ  of  the  Little  England- 
ers,  proposed  that  everything  should  be  given  up  to  the  Amer- 
icans which  lay  west  of  the  St.  John  River.  Thus  peace 
would  prevail,  and  beside  such  a  result  what  mattered  the 
interests  and  the  territory  of  loyal  Colonists  ?  It  was  the 
spirit  of  the  times  in  England,  and  serves  to  show  the  strength 
of  a  British  sentiment  in  Canada  which  could  li  o  through 
and  iiltimately  overcome  it.  President  Van  Buren  was  not, 
fortunately,  of  the  same  mind  as  Webster  and  his  friends, 
and  he,  therefore,  despatched  General  Winfield  Scott  to  the 
scene  of  trouble  with  apparent  instructions  to  try  and  effect 
a  compromise.  Scott  was  a  brave  and  judicious  officer  who 
had  served  against  Harvey  at  Lundy's  Lane  and  Stony  Creek, 
and  it  was  not  long  before  the  two  came  to  an  agreement 
which  involved  a  temporary  joint  occupation  of  the  disputed 
territory. 

Three  years  later  Lord  Ashburton  and  Daniel  Webster  were 


EXTERNAL   RELATIONS   OF   THE   DOMINION 


491 


appointed  Commissioners  to  settle  the  dispute.  They  were 
admirably  fitted  to  duplicate  the  events  of  1183  and  1818. 
The  one  v/as  a  good-natured  believer  in  peace — at  a  high 
price,  if  necessary — and  was  personally  interested,  through 
his  connection  with  the  Barings,  in  American  financial  securi- 
ties. This  latter  point  mif ^  t  not  have  directly  affected  his 
action,  because  no  one  has  ever  disputed  his  personal  sense 
of  honor,  but  the  fact  of  his  being  a  member  of  the  school  of 
political  thought  which  considered  British  external  responsi- 
bilities as  a  burden  and  Colonial  possessions  as  useless  is 
beyond  question.  His  appointment  is,  therefore,  a  standing 
disgrace  to  the  Melbourne  Government.  In  1843,  after  the 
Treaty  was  negotiated,  he  declared,  according  to  Greville's 
"Memoirs,"  that  "the  whole  territory  was  worth  nothing," 
and,  in  1846,  he  assured  the  House  of  Commons  regarding 
the  kindred  Oregon  territory  dispute  that  it  was  "a  question 
worthless  in  itself."  Webster,  on  the  other  hand,  was  a  keen 
American  statesman,  with  a  shrewdness  which  bordered  on 
unscrupulousness,  and  without  any  hampering  friendship  for 
England  or  for  British  interests. 

The  result  of  such  negotiations  was  inevitable.  Out  of  the 
12,000  square  miles  of  disputed  territory,  5,000  went  to  New 
Brunswick ;  7,000  square  nniies  of  the  most  valuable  portion 
went  to  Maine ;  the  Dominion  of  the  future  was  shut  off  from 
an  Atlantic  winter  port ;  a  wedge  of  American  soil  was  pushed 
up  into  the  heart  of  the  Maritime  Provinces ;  and  Lord  Ash- 
burton  returned  to  England  with  a  treaty  of  renewed  peace 
and  amity.  Incidentally,  Mr.  Webster  was  able  to  ensure  the 
ratification  of  the  Treaty  in  the  American  Senate  by  showing 
that  body  a  map  drawn  by  Franklin  in  connection  with  the 
arrangements  of  1783,  and  marked  by  a  red  line  which  re- 
vealed the  British  contention  to  be  absolutely  correct.  Such 
was  the  Ashburton  Treaty  and  its  environment  of  events. 

That  of  Oregon  was  even  worse  for  British  and  Canadian 
interests.  By  the  Convention  of  1818,  as  already  mentioned, 
there  was  a  large  extent  of  unoccupied  territory  on  the  Pa- 
cific Coast  which  England  seemed  to  care  little  about,  and 


492 


THE   STORY   OF   THE   DOMINION 


■which  was  held  for  the  Crown  by  the  very  insecure  and 
vague  lease  of  the  Hudson's  Bay  Company — the  claims  to 
which  were  supported  by  the  discoveries  of  Captain  Cook, 
Vancouver,  and  other  seamen  or  travelers.  The  whole  re- 
gion had  been  thrown  open  to  general  settlement  in  1818, 
and,  in  1826,  a  sort  of  internal  agreement  was  come  to  by 
which  the  49th  parallel  was  accepted  as  the  Continental 
boundary  line.  This  left  the  British  Columbia  of  to-day 
on  one  side  of  the  line  and  the  future  States  of  Oregon  and 
Washington  upon  the  other — with  the  Hudson's  Bay  Com- 
pany exercising  its  commercial  privileges  and  a  sort  of  shad- 
owy sovereignty  over  the  whole  region.  About  1845,  how- 
ever, their  diplomatic  success  in  the  Maine  matter  had  been 
so  marked,  and  the  desire  to  expand  westward  had  grown  so 
strong,  that  the  United  States  papers  and  politicians,  and  the 
people  themselves,  began  to  clamor  for  the  whole  Pacific 
Coast  territory  right  up  to  the  bounds  of  Eussian  Alaska. 
The  agitation  grew  with  what  it  fed  upon,  and  very  soon  the 
cry  of  "fifty-four,  forty,  or  fight" — in  reference  to  the  south- 
em  boundary  of  Russian  America  being  at  latitude  54°  40' 
— rang  through  the  Republic  in  very  threatening  tones. 

Commissioners  were  appointed,  and,  although  the  Ameri- 
can Government  did  not  get  all  they  desired,  they  did  obtain 
by  the  Oregon  Treaty  of  1846  the  splendid  Puget  Sound 
region  and  the  lower  valley  of  the  Columbia,  to  which  it  is 
hard  indeed  to  find  any  legitimate  right  or  proven  claim.  The 
further  question  of  the  boundary  delimitation  through  the 
Fuca  Straits,  under  this  Treaty,  caused  the  San  Juan  ques- 
tion of  a  later  date,  the  joint  occupation  of  the  little  island 
by  British  and  American  troops  in  1856  and  the  arrival  of 
General  Winfield  Scott,  in  1859,  to  once  more  act  the  part 
of  pacificator.  A  temporary  settlement,  which  lasted  until 
1872,  was  patched  up,  and  then  the  German  Emperor,  acting 
as  Arbitrator  under  the  terms  of  the  Treaty  of  Washington, 
decided  in  favor  of  the  American  contention  as  to  the  boun- 
dary channel  and  awarded  San  Juan  Island  to  the  United 
States.     Meanwhile,  the  Reciprocity  Treaty  had  been  made 


EXTERNAL    RELATIONS   OF   THE   DOMINION        493 


in  1854,  and  this  event  marked  the  one  diplomatic  develop- 
ment in  the  history  of  British  America  where  Oanadian  in- 
terests were  fully  and  adequately  guarded.  Its  abrogation  in 
1866  marked  also  the  high-water  period  in  modern  American 
hostility  toward  England  and  the  Provinces. 

THE  FEl    AN  EAIDS 

A  word  must  be  said  here  as  to  the  Fenian  raids.  Refer- 
ences have  already  been  made  to  them,  but  their  scope  and 
character  were  of  such  a  nature  as  to  fittingly  warrant  special 
consideration  in  this  place.  Like  the  raids  made  by  the  rebels 
of  183Y  and  their  filibustering  friends  from  across  the  border 
in  1838-39,  these  incidents  of  frontier  aggressiveness  grew 
naturally  out  of  the  bitter  feelings  against  England  which 
had  been  cultivated  as  a  duty  and  a  pleasure  by  Irishmen  liv- 
ing in  the  United  States.  When  the  United  States,  in  1866, 
began  to  press  Great  Britain  for  compensation  in  the  Ala- 
bama case  and  to  develop  the  keen  feelings  of  animosity 
which  found  vent  in  the  rejection  of  the  Reverdy  Johnson 
Treaty  and  in  the  abrogation  of  the  Canadian  Reciprocity 
Treaty,  the  Irish  Revolutionary  Brotherhood  of  New  York 
and  other  cities  found  its  opportunity  for  self-assertion  and 
attempted  achievement.  Popular  ignorance  of  the  condition, 
population,  sentiments,  and  constitutional  system  of  British 
America  had  something  to  do  with  the  large  and  immediate 
response  to  a  call  to  arms  issued  by  the  organization ;  popular 
belief  in  the  fact  of  British  tyranny  and  the  British  flag  be- 
ing synonymous  terms,  and  of  similar  application  in  Ireland 
and  in  Canada,  also  assisted ;  while  the  existence  of  a  large 
body  of  men  who  had  become  accustomed  to  the  free,  fighting 
life  of  soldiers  in  the  Civil  War  and  were  not  now  inclined 
to  settle  down  in  the  industrious  paths  of  peace,  was  a  source 
of  much  strength  to  the  movement. 

After  months  of  public  drilling  and  arming  in  American 
border  towns,  the  announcement  came  across  the  frontier  in 
March,  1866,  that  an  invasion  might  be  expected  on  St.  Pat- 
rick's Day.    Ten  thousand  militia  were  promptly  ordered  out 


494 


THE   STORY   OF   THE   DOMINION 


by  Major-General  Sir  P.  L.  McDougall,  then  Commander  of 
the  forces  in  British  America,  and  14,000  appeared  on 
parade  the  day  after  the  order  was  issued.  They  were  on 
duty  for  some  weeks,  but  as  no  hostile  action  was  taken,  ex- 
cept an  attempt  to  seize  an  island  on  the  coast  of  New  Bruns- 
wick which  was  promptly  met  by  the  calling  out  of  the  Pro- 
vincial militia,  the  most  of  them  were  allowed  to  return 
home.  On  June  1,  1866,  however,  the  actual  raid  commenced 
with  the  landing  of  1,000  Fenians  from  Buffalo  on  the  banks 
of  the  Niagara  River,  near  Fort  Erie,  and  the  capture  of  that 
place.  Colonel  Peacock,  of  the  16th  Regiment,  was  placed 
in  command  of  the  forces  on  the  frontier,  and  these  soon  in- 
cluded some  500  regular  troops,  a  battery  of  Royal  Artillery, 
the  13th  Battalion  of  Militia  under  Lieutenant-Colonel 
Booker,  the  York  and  Caledonia  Companies  of  Volunteers, 
the  Dunnville  Naval  Volunteers,  the  Governor-General's 
Bodyguard  of  Toronto  under  Lieutenant-Colonel  G.  T.  Deni- 
son,  the  19th  Battalion  of  St.  Catharines,  the  Queen's  Own 
and  Royal  Grenadiers  of  Toronto — the  former  under  Lieu- 
tenant-Colonel Stoughton  Dennis — and  the  Welland  Artil- 
lery.    There  were  about  2,300  men  altogether. 

The  intention  of  the  Fenians  was  to  destroy  the  Welland 
Canal,  but  at  Ridgeway  they  were  met  by  840  militiamen 
under  Colonel  Booker.  Owing  to  the  failure  of  a  subordinate 
oflScer  to  carry  out  certain  instructions,  the  arrangements  for 
co-operation  between  the  forces  of  Booker  and  Peacocke  failed 
to  materialize  and  the  former's  force,  after  fighting  for  some 
time,  finally  retired  before  the  Fenians  with  a  loss  of  nine 
killed  and  thirty  wounded.  The  battle  of  Ridgeway  was  nomi- 
nally a  defeat  and  especially  regrettable  because  it  prevented 
the  capture  of  the  Fenian  army,  which  might  have  been  ac- 
complished had  the  original  plan  of  operations  been  carried 
out.  However,  it  saved  the  canal  and  seems  to  have  suffi- 
ciently scared  the  invaders.  Neither  Colonel  Peacocke  nor 
Colonel  Booker  was  to  blame  for  the  result,  although  both 
have  suffered  much  from  unjust  and  ignorant  criticism. 
Shortly  after  the  fight  the  Fenians  escaped  across  the  river 


EXTERNAL    RELATIONS    OF   THE   DOMINION        495 


under  guard  of  an  American  gunboat.  For  several  weeks, 
however,  some  seven  thousand  of  them  remained  concentrated 
at  Buffalo,  threatening  another  attack,  and  a  strong  force 
was  maintained  at  Fort  Erie  to  meet  any  such  attempt. 
Meanwhile,  a  large  body  of  filibusters  had  gathered  at  Og- 
densburg,  N.  Y.,  but  the  presence  of  2,000  regulars  and 
volunteers  who  had  rapidly  gathered  at  Prescott,  and  of  a 
gunboat  patrolling  the  St.  Lawrence,  effectually  prevented  an 
attack.  On  June  7th,  some  eighteen  hundred  of  the  enemy 
crossed  the  frontier  into  the  Eastern  Townships  of  Quebec, 
but,  on  hearing  of  the  concentration  of  1,100  regulars  and 
militiamen  at  Huntington,  with  a  reserve  of  5,000  troops  at 
Montreal;  they  very  wisely  did  not  press  the  advance  and 
shortly  afterward  dispersed.     This  ended  the  raid  of  1866. 

Four  years  afterward  large  numbers  of  Fenians  gathered 
on  the  frontiers  of  Quebec,  and  again  the  militia  had  to  be 
called  out.  Within  three  days  of  the  call,  13,489  men,  with 
eighteen  field-guns,  were  in  position  at  the  points  designated, 
and,  on  May  25,  1870,  a  skirmish  took  place  at  Eccles'  Hill, 
in  Mississquoi,  in  which  200  Fenians  were  driven  out  of  a 
strong  position  and  across  the  border  by  forty  men  of  the  60th 
Battalion  and  some  thirty-seven  farmers  of  the  neighbor- 
hood, under  Lieutenant-Colonel  Brown  Chamberlain.  A  sec- 
ond invasion  in  the  Huntington  direction  was  met  and  sim- 
ilarly repulsed.  In  Ontario  there  were  other  alarms  and 
threatened  invasions,  but  no  actually  hostile  effort.  Over 
a  year  later,  in  October,  1871,  a  small  band  of  Fenians 
crossed  the  Manitoba  border,  but  were  followed  by  American 
troops  and  taken  back  without  having  time  to  inflict  any  in- 
jury. This  ended  the  Fenian  raids,  which,  in  direct  expendi- 
ture, cost  the  Provinces  a  million  and  a  quarter  dollars,  and, 
in  the  more  indirect  losses  to  business  and  trade,  a  much 
larger  sum. 

They  are  notable  for  showing  the  extraordinary  incon- 
sistency at  times  visible  in  American  politics  and  diplomacy. 
Although  demanding  immense  sums  from  Great  Britain  for 
the  accidental  escape  of  the  Alabama  from  a  British  harbor, 


■i 


496 


THE   STORY   OF   THE   DOMINION 


the  same  Government  and  people  openly  permitted  these  Fe- 
nian invaders  of  a  presumably  friendly  state  to  arm  and  drill 
within  American  territory,  to  march  out  of  that  territory  on 
an  avowed  mission  of  war  and  bloodshed,  and  to  return  again 
without  fear  and  without  punishment.  They  let  this  go  on 
for  years  and  result  in  repeated  invasion;  even  while  repu- 
diating responsibility  during  concurrent  negotiations.  And, 
finally,  they  refused  all  indemnification,  or  even  a  considera- 
tion of  it,  to  the  Canadian  victims  of  this  "neutral"  system. 
The  raids  are  interesting,  also,  as  illustrating  the  attitude  of 
England  toward  the  States,  her  intense  desire  to  avoid  irri- 
tating subjects  of  discussion,  her  willingness  to  pay  Canada's 
claims  upon  the  Republic  rather  than  to  herself  press  demands 
for  compensation.  In  this  way,  and  for  these  reasons,  the 
losses  of  Canada  were  not  considered  in  the  Treaty  of  Wash-v 
ington,  and  the  United  States  escaped  all  responsibility  foi 
its  practical,  though  not  technical,  share  in  the  invasions. 

THE  BERING  SEA  QUESTION  ,.     ' 

Following  the  Treaty  of  Washington,  which  settled  Anglo* 
American  disputes  for  a  few  years,  came  the  Atlantic  fisherici 
trouble,  which  would  have  been  disposed  of  in  1888  by  the 
Treaty  negotiated  in  that  year  between  Mr.  Joseph  Chamber- 
lain, Sir  Charles  Tupper,  and  the  Hon.  Thomas  F.  Bayard, 
had  the  arrangement  been  ratified  by  the  American  Senate. 
Then,  the  Bering  Sea  question  developed  and  the  United 
States  practically  demanded  the  control  of  the  seal  fisheries 
of  the  Pacific  Coast  and  the  right  to  suppress  British  fishing 
in  the  waters  of  that  region.  The  real  reason  for  this  action 
is  to  be  found  in  the  claims  of  the  Alaskan  Seal  Company — 
an  American  corporation  of  great  wealth  and  influence — to  a 
monopoly  in  those  waters ;  the  nominal  reason  given  was  the 
prevention  of  pelagic,  or  open  sea,  sealing  in  order  to  avert  the 
extinction  of  the  herd.  This  latter  point  was  practically  dis- 
posed of  by  the  Report  of  a  Commission  of  Inquiry  appointed 
by  Great  Britain  and  composed  of  the  late  Sir  George  Baden- 
Powell,  M.  P.,  and  Professor  George  M.  Dawson  of  Ottawa. 


EXTERNAL   RELATIONS   OF  THE  DOMINION        497 


It  showed  clearly  that  the  herd  was,  in  the  first  place,  in  no 
danger  of  extinction,  and  the  evidence  indicated  that,  if  it 
were,  the  Alaskan  Company  and  the  American  sealers  were 
hardly  the  best  guardians  of  its  welfare. 

In  1892  a  treaty  was  made  by  which  the  whole  matter 
was  referred  to  arbitration,  and,  at  the  tribunal  which  sub- 
sequently met  at  Paris,  with  Sir  John  Thompson,  Premier 
of  Canada,  as  one  of  the  British  Arbitrators,  Sir  Charles  Hib- 
bert  Tupper  as  British  Agent,  and  Mr,  Christopher  Kobinson, 
Q.  C,  of  Toronto,  as  one  of  the  British  Counsel,  a  decision 
was  given  upholding  Canada  and  Britain  in  practically  every 
point.  Damages  for  the  seizures  of  British  ships  which  had 
been  made  in  Pacific  waters  were  awarded  and  the  amount 
left  to  future  assessment.  After  prolonged  controversy  this 
also  was  settled  by  a  Convention  held  in  Washington  in 
1896,  and  nearly  half  a  million  dollars  was  paid  to  Canadian 
sealers  in  compensation  for  their  losses. 

Meantime,  the  inevitable  boundary  trouble  had  developed 
in  Alaska  as  a  result  of  the  purchase  of  that  region  from 
Russia  in  1867  and  the  negotiation  of  a  treaty  two  years 
later  which  proved  abortive.  The  question  is  a  complicated 
one  and  the  details  impossible  of  presentation  here.  Efforts 
were  made  at  Washington,  in  1870,  to  dispose  of  it,  and, 
finally,  in  1892,  a  treaty  was  signed  by  which  a  joint  or  co- 
incident survey  of  the  disputed  region  was  to  be  made  with 
a  view  to  the  delimitation  of  the  boundary  line.  Despite 
continued  efforts  by  Canada,  however,  no  definite  steps  were 
taken  by  the  United  States  until,  in  1896,  gold  discoveries 
were  made  in  the  British  Yukon  region,  the  country  became 
suddenly  famous,  and  the  whole  question  assumed  an  im- 
portant as  well  as  a  perplexing  aspect.  Then  the  demands 
for  settlement  came  from  the  Republic;  demands  which  in- 
creased in  scope  as  population  poured  into  the  disputed  sec- 
tion and  as  its  importance  became  enhanced  to  the  interested 
view  of  the  American  people.  Great  efforts  were  made  by 
the  Laurier  Government,  in  1897,  to  have  the  whole  matter 
referred  to  arbitration  under,  and  in  accordance  with,  the 


498 


THE   STORY   OF   THE   DOMINION 


forms  of  the  Venezuela  arbitration.  But  this  was  refused  by 
the  American  authorities  unless  colonization  and  occupation 
should,  in  this  case,  be  taken  as  implying  ownership  by  right 
— in  other  words,  unless  the  territory  was  given  up  in  ad- 
vance, arbitration  was  not  acceptable.  And  so  the  matter 
stands  at  the  end  of  the  century. 

BKITISII   AND   AMERICAN  DIPLOMACY 

This  rapid  summary  of  the  diplomatic  relations  between 
Great  Britain  and  the  United  States,  in  matters  affect- 
ing Canada,  reveals  much  of  vital  national  import  to  the 
Dominion;  and  indicates  more.  It  shows  clearly  the  pro- 
longed and  serious  remissness  of  the  Motherland  in  matters 
affecting  territory  in  British  America;  it  indicates  an  igno- 
rance of  lie  value  of  that  territory  not,  perhaps,  unnatural  in 
view  of  the  vast  and  steadily  growing  responsibilities  of  the 
United  Kingdom  and  the  wild  vagaries  of  the  Little  Eng- 
land or  Manchester  School  of  thought,  but  still  reprehen- 
sible; it  shows  a  desire  to  promote  peace  and  amity  between 
the  Empire  and  the  Republic  which  has  been  more  credi- 
table to  British  sentiments  of  kinship  than  to  British  state- 
craft or  knowledge  of  the  United  States.  It  reveals  on  the 
part  of  Canada,  in  its  callow  days,  a  desire  to  endure  all 
things  in  preference  to  questioning  seriously  the  good-mil 
and  good  offices  of  the  Motherland;  a  desire,  in  later  and 
more  mature  times,  to  strongly  enforce  its  own  views  upoi 
the  process  of  treaty  negotiation  and  settlement  through  the 
right  finally  given  by  the  presence  of  Sir  John  Macdonald 
at  Washington  in  1870,  of  Sir  Charles  Tupper  at  the  same 
place  in  1888,  and  of  Sir  John  Thompson  at  Paris  in  1893 ; 
a  request  and  granted  permission  to  make  its  own  commercial 
treaties,  subject  to  British  approval,  and  illustrated  in  the 
visits  of  Canadian  leaders  to  Washington  in  1869,  in  1874, 
in  1892,  and  in  1897. 

It  indicates  on  the  part  of  Great  Britain,  and  in  later  days, 
a  steady,  though  slow,  growth  in  her  appreciation  of  Canadian 
loyalty  and  the  value  of  Canadian  territory.    The  difference 


EXTERNAL    RELATIONS    OF   THE   DOMINION 


49» 


between  the  terms  and  character  and  results  of  British  nego- 
tiations in  1818,  in  1842,  in  1846,  and  in  1870,  and  those 
of  the  years  since  1888,  are  most  startling  in  the  measure 
of  change  from  ignorance  and  indifference  to  knowledge  and 
devoted  support.  To  compare  the  willingness  of  Earl  de 
Grey,  at  Washington,  in  1870,  to  surrender  Canadian  terri- 
tories and  fishing  interests  en  masse,  with  Lord  Salisbury's 
declaration  in  1887  that  further  seizures  of  Canadian  vessels 
on  the  Atlantic  Coast  would  practically  mean  war,  is  as  strik- 
ing in  its  way  as  to  glance  at  the  difference  between  Sir 
Richard  Cartwright,  in  1887,  advocating  a  policy  of  trade 
preferences  against  England  and  in  favor  of  the  United 
States,  and,  in  1897,  supporting  one  of  preferences  in  favor 
of  England  and  against  the  United  States.  It  shows,  indi- 
rectly, how  strong  must  have  been  the  Canadian  sentiment 
of  loyalty  to  the  flag  and  allegiance  to  the  Crown  which 
could  face  and  overcome,  or  grow  out  of,  the  feelings  natu- 
rally and  inevitably  aroused  by  these  earlier  sacrifices  of 
Colonial  interests.  It  also  affords  some  excuse  to  those  who 
have  since  supported  a  policy  inconsistent  with  the  main- 
tenance of  British  connection.    .■  s.,     ;  . 


CANADIAN   LOYALTY  AND  DESTINY 

The  reasons  are  not  far  to  seek.  If  Great  Britain,  on  the  one 
hand,  did  not  value  to  the  full  extent  the  waste  lands  of  the 
continent  in  v/hich  she  already  held  so  large  a  stake,  and  was 
unable  to  see  the  futu^a  importance  of  certain  places  and  boun- 
daries which  slipped  out  of  her  hands,  she,  on  the  other  hand, 
maintained  her  right  to  very  great  regions  of  territory.  If,  at 
times,  statesmen  thought  or  spoke  slightingly  of  certain 
Canadian  interests,  or  territorial  rights,  they  did  little  more 
than  many  politicians  of  the  Dominion  itself  have  since  done. 
If  there  were  recollections  of  British  negligence  and  of 
occasional  losses  of  territory  through  diplomacy,  there  Were, 
also,  in  the  heart  of  every  British  subject  in  Canada  mem- 
ories of  struggles  for  life  and  home  and  country  in  which 
he  had  fought  side  by  side  with  British  troops  from  the  time 


i'i 


it 


500 


THE  STORY  OF   THE   DOMINION 


when  they  wore  painfully  spared  by  an  exhausted  Mother- 
land in  1812  and  1814,  through  the  troubles  of  1837,  the 
frontier  raids  of  the  two  succeeding  years,  the  Trent  Affair, 
when  thousands  of  British  troops  had  been  poured  into  the 
Provinces  to  defend  them  against  a  possible  war,  the  period 
of  the  Fenian  raids  and  the  events  of  the  first  Kiel  rebellion. 

There  were  other  reasons  for  the  maintenance  and  devel- 
opment of  loyal  sentiment  The  influence  of  a  hereditary 
tendency  toward  monarchical  institutions  among  French 
Canadians,  and  of  an  intense  personal  sentiment  of  allegiance 
among  the  United  Empire  Loyalists  of  the  other  Provinces, 
had  a  distinct  effect  upon  their  descendants.  The  personal 
factor  in  this  connection  received  a  great  and  growing  im- 
petus in  the  accession  of  Queen  Victoria  to  the  Throne,  in 
the  respect  felt  for  the  life  and  work  and  memory  of  the 
Prince  Consort,  and  in  the  visit  of  11.  K.  H.  the  Prince  of 
Wales  to  Canada  in  1860,  The  latter  event  was  one  of  di- 
rect interest  and  importance.  The  young  Prince,  accom- 
panied by  the  Duke  of  Newcastle,  Colonial  Secretary,  and  a 
large  suite,  visited  all  the  principal  places  in  Canada,  and, 
at  Halifax,  St.  John,  Quebec,  Montreal,  Toronto,  and  other 
points,  received  ovations  which  fully  illustrated  the  strength 
of  existing  loyalty  to  British  institutions. 

Another  factor  of  great  weight  has  been  the  presence, 
influence,  and  personality  of  the  Governors-General.  Lord 
Durham  was  the  recognized  founder  of  practical  constitu- 
tionalism in  Canada.  Men  like  Lord  Metcalfe  and  Lord  Dal- 
housie  impressed  even  hostile  critics  and  antagonists  with 
their  personal  honor  and  high  principles.  Lord  Elgin  was  a 
model  of  courtesy  in  manner  and  clever  conciliation  in  rule. 
Lord  Monck  was  a  strong  factor  in  promoting  Confederation 
and  went  further,  even,  than  the  constitution  under  ordinary 
circumstances  would  have  warranted,  in  pressing  it  to  an 
issue.  Sir  Howard  Douglas  and  Sir  John  Harvey,  in  the 
Maritime  Provinces,  were  models  of  careful,  honorable  ad- 
ministration. Lord  Lisgar  and  others  who  preceded  and  suc- 
ceeded him  gave  the  society  and  the  people  of  a  new  country 


EXTERNAL    RELATIONS    OF   THE   DOMINION        501 


most  useful  and  practical  examples  of  the  best  phases  of 
English  life  and  customs  and  manners.  Lord  Dufforin  was  a 
power  in  eloquence  and  popularity  which  went  very  far  to- 
ward consolidating  and  promoting  British  and  Canadian  senti- 
ment in  the  geographically  separated  Provinces. 

As  the  years  rolled  on  toward  the  end  of  the  century 
other  and  external  forces  came  to  the  front.  The  formation 
of  the  Imperial  Federation  League  in  London,  and  the 
speeches  from  year  to  year  of  men  like  Lord  Rosebery, 
Mr.  W.  E.  Forster,  Mr.  Stanhope,  Lord  Brassey,  Sir  John 
Lubbock  (Lord  Avebury),  and  others  of  the  new  school  of 
Imperial  statecraft,  rolled  away  many  a  cloud  of  doubt  which 
had  shadowed  the  minds  of  even  loyal  Canadians  as  to  the 
British  attitude  toward  the  Colonics.  Gradually,  too,  that 
wretched  yoke  upon  the  neck  of  Empire  and  unity,  the 
Little  Englander  School,  disappeared  froii  +he  area  of  in- 
fluence, though  not  altogether  from  sight  a  jound.  Bet- 
ter men  were  placed  in  charge  of  the  Color-;  1  Office,  and, 
finally,  Mr.  Chamberlain,  whose  faults  may  well  be  buried 
in  view  of  his  honest  and  earnest  belief  in  the  Empire  as  a 
great  world-factor,  came  into  a  position  and  a  power  which 
he  did  not  hesitate  to  wield. 

Moreover,  there  had  never  been,  until  Confederation,  any 
united  public  opinion  in  the  Provinces  which  could  very 
strongly  feel  or  resent  the  passing  incidents  of  British  neg- 
lect or  ignorance.  The  people  understood  the  value  of 
British  America  as  a  whole  very  little  more  than  did  their 
fellow-subjects  in  the  British  Isles,  and  no  lasting  impression 
was  made  upon  their  meuiories  by  the  historic  events  re- 
ferred to.  The  Unitod  States,  on  the  other  hand,  was  al- 
ways near  them  and  always  a  rough  and  ready  wooer.  An- 
nexation was  the  dream  of  its  greatest  leaders,  but  certainty 
as  to  the  result,  much  talk  of  destiny  in  the  matter,  and 
overwhelming  belief  in  the  superiority  of  American  insti- 
tutions, led  them  into  the  error  of  using  coercion  instead  of 
conciliation.  Had  the  wooing  been  systematic  and  kindly, 
and  had  the  Republic  assumed  and  maintained  the  role  of 


1 1 


im" 


502 


THE   STORY   OF   THE   DOMINION 


a  magnanimous  and  sympathetic  neighbor,  the  British  Can- 
ada of  to-day  would  have  been  almost  an  impossibility.  Not 
absolutely  so,  of  course,  but  from  every  standpoint  of  present 
probability. 

Outside  of  the  Eeciprocity  period,  whichj  however,  was 
marked  by  a  prolonged  series  of  nagging  efforts  at  abroga- 
tion the  history  of  American  relations  with  the  British 
Provinces  has  been  one  the  reverse  of  brotherly.  Since  the 
War  of  1812  the  record  has  been  one  of  disputes  over  ter- 
ritory, differences  as  to  fisheries,  irritation  over  treaty  nego- 
tiations, complications  in  tariff  matters.  No  doubt  Canada, 
in  both  its  Provincial  and  Dominion  days,  has  been  wrong  at 
tilnes  and  has  seemed  a  thorn  in  the  flesh  to  progressive  and 
enterprising  American  leaders;  but  its  difficult  position  as  a 
young,  small,  separated  and  struggling  community  seems, 
even  in  those  cases,  to  have  deserved  some  consideration. 
To  understand,  therefore,  the  loyalty  of  Canadians  in  the 
year  1900,  their  now  historic  participation  in  the  South 
African  War,  and  their  public  enrolment  under  the  flag  of 
an  Empire  which  can  be  militant  as  well  as  peaceful,  the 
relations  of  the  Provinces  to  the  United  States  as  well  as  to 
the  United  Kingdom  must  be  borne  in  mind. 

The  sentiment  which  has  finally  developed  and  with  which 
the  Dominion  of  Canada  enters  upon  a  new  century  of 
hoped-for  achievement  and  progressive  prosperity  is  simple 
and  yet  complicated.  It  is  simple  in  being  strongly  Cana- 
dian in  scope  and  character  and  local  application.  It  is 
complex  in  being  also  Imperialistic  to  a  degree  which  is 
steadily  growing  in  strength  and  volume  among  an  English- 
speaking  population.  It  is  still  more  complicated  by  the 
existence  of  a  passive  French-Canadian  people  who  are  op- 
posed to  change,  loyal  to  existing  ties,  but  absolutely  indif- 
ferent, if  not  antagonistic,  to  any  marked  development  toward 
more  defined  and  closer  relations.  It  is  peculiar  in  combin- 
ing American  democratic  tendencies  and  sympathies  with  a 
British  loyalty  to  the  Crown  which  grew  with  every  year 
of  th^  life  and  reign  of  Queen  Victoria.     It  is  important,  in 


THE  OPENINO  YEARS  OF  THE  NEW  CENTURY       503 

the  fact  that  Canadians  hold  the  pivotal  point  of  territory 
and  power  in  the  British  Empire,  and  that  upon  their  con- 
tinued loyalty  depends  not  only  the  unity  of  the  Imperial 
system  but  British  control  of  the  waterways  of  the  Atlantic 
and  the  Pacific. 

The  400  years  of  Canadian  history  which  have  gone  into 
the  making  of  the  Dominion  are,  therefore,  of  a  nature  to 
stamp  its  future  with  every  fair  and  reasonable  prospect  of 
success.  The  annals  of  its  people  reveal  combined  charac- 
teristics in  those  of  French  and  British  origin  which  ought 
to  ensure  future  power,  as  they  have,  in  the  immediate  past, 
ensured  material  and  national  progress.  The  position  of 
the  country,  in  extent  and  resources  and  unity  and  transporta- 
tion facilities,  should  make  the  wealth  and  commerce  of  an 
important  destiny  as  certain  as  the  aspirations  of  its  people 
are  strong.  The  qualities  of  past  and  historic  loyalty  to 
Province  and  country  and  Empire,  ought  to  make  its  place 
in  the  Imperial  system  far  more  defined  in  the  dim  march 
of  distant  days  than  has  ever  yet  been  possible.  Canada  for 
Canadians,  within  the  Empire,  and  against  the  world,  appears 
to  be  the  exact  definition  of  popular  feeling  and  development 
in  the  Dominion  at  the  end  of  the  nineteenth  century. 


CHAPTER    XXXI 


THE  OPENING  YEARS  OF  THE  NEW  CENTURY 


BEFORE  the  formal  announcement  on  January  18, 
1901,  stating  that  the  Queen  was  not  in  her  usual 
health,  and  that  the  ''great  strain  upon  her  powers" 
during  the  past  year  had  told  upon  Her  Majesty's  nervous 
system,  Canadians,  in  common  with  the  people  in  other  parts 
of  the  Empire,  had  become  so  accustomed  to  her  presence  at 
the  head  of  the  state  and  to  her  personality  in  their  hearts 
and  lives,  that  even  the  possibility  of  her  death  was  regarded 
with  a  feeling  of  shocked  surprise.  During  the  days  which 
succeeded,  and  while  the  shadow  of  death  lay  over  the  towers 


§04 


THE   STORY    OF   THE   DOMINION 


of  Windsor,  its  influence  was  equally  perceptible  throughout 
the  press,  the  pulpit,  and  among  the  people  of  the  Dominion. 
When  the  Prince  of  Wales  on  Tuesday  evening,  the  2  2d  of 
January,  telegraphed  the  Lord  Mayor  of  London  that  "my 
beloved  mother,  the  Queen,  has  just  passed  away,''  the  an- 
nouncement awakened  a  feeling  of  sorrow,  of  sympathy,  and 
of  Imperial  sentiment  such  as  Canada  had  never  felt  before. 
It  was  more  than  loyal  regret  for  the  death  of  a  great  Sov- 
ereign; it  was  a  feeling  of  individual  loss. 

ACCESSION  OF  EDWARD  Vn  ^ 

The  stability  of  British  institutions  was  never  more  strik- 
ingly exhibited  than  in  the  perfection  of  procedure  and  calm 
certainty  of  conditions  which  surrounded  the  accession  of  the 
new  Sovereign.  In  all  parts  of  the  Empire  the  necessary  con- 
stitutional changes  occurred  without  the  slightest  friction  or 
controversy,  and  this  despite  the  seemingly  permanent  place 
which  the  late  Queen  hud  come  to  assume  in  the  machinery  of 
British  government  every^vhere.  There  was  general  satis- 
faction in  Canada  over  the  choice  of  a  name,  and  the  Prince 
of  Wales,  as  King  Edward  VII,  soon  found  that  he  possessed 
the  loyalty  of  his  people  in  a  measure  which  would  have 
astonished  pessimists  of  a  few  decades  before,  and  which  did 
surprise  many  publicists  abroad. 

Meanwhile,  events  had  most  favorably  impressed  Cana- 
dians as  to  the  character  and  policy  of  King  Edward.  His 
evident  and  deep  feeling  for  his  mother,  the  eloquent  and  tact- 
ful nature  of  his  address  to  the  Privy  Council,  his  just  min- 
gling of  splendor  with  the  draperies  of  sorrow  at  the  Queen's 
funeral  ceremonies,  his  opening  of  Parliament  in  solemn 
state,  and  his  sympathetic  treatment  of  the  Queen  Consort,  all 
combined  to  produce  a  most  favorable  public  opinion. 

THE  ROYAL  TOUR  OF  THE  EMPIRE       - 

On  September  IT,  1900,  it  was  announced  by  the  Colonial 
Office  that  Her  Majesty  the  Queen  had  assented  to  the  request 
of  the  Australian  Colonies  that  H.  R.  H.  the  Duke  of  York 
should  open  their  newly  established  Federal  Parliament  in 


THE  OPENING  TEARS  OF  THE  NEW  CENTURY       505 

the  spring  of  1901.  On  March  14th  the  Duke  of  York — 
now  also  Duke  of  Cornwall — sailed  from  Portsmouth  with 
the  Duchess  of  Cornwall  and  York  on  a  nine  months'  tour  of 
the  Empire.  During  the  ensuing  six  months  they  visited 
Gibraltar,  Malta,  Port  Said,  Suez,  Aden,  Colombo,  Singa- 
pore, Melbourne,  Brisbane,  Sydney,  Auckland,  Wellington, 
Lyttleton,  Dunedin,  Hobart,  Adelaide,  Fremantle,  Mauritius, 
Durban,  Simonstown,  Cape  Town,  Ascension,  St.  Vincent, 
and  other  places  in  Asia,  Africa,  Australia,  and  New  Zea- 
land— a  distance  of  40,000  miles  by  sea  and  land  under  the 
British  flag  and  among  communities  owning  the  sovereignty 
or  suzerainty  of  the  British  Crown. 


•■.nil 


.} 


PASSING  THROUGH  CANADA 


' '  When  the  Duke  and  Duchess  of  Cornwall  and  York  landed 
at  Quebec  on  the  16th  of  September,  1901,  they  entered  upon 
the  first  State  visit  of  Royalty  to  the  Dominion  of  Canada. 

On  September  15th  the  ancient  City  of  Quebec  was 
crowded  with  visitors;  the  streets  were  gayly  decorated  and 
the  buildings  everywhere  blazoned  with  the  French  greeting 
"bienvenue" ;  the  splendid  citadel-rock  of  historic  fame  was 
ablaze  with  bannerets;  on  the  broad  bosom  of  the  St.  Law- 
rence were  four  great  warships  awaiting  the  Royal  visitors; 
in  the  town  itself  were  the  Governor-General  of  Canada,  his 
Prime  Minister,  and  all  the  members  of  the  Dominion  Cabi- 
net, excepting  Sir  Richard  Cartwright,  waiting  to  receive 
the  guests  of  the  nation. 

At  Quebec  the  reception  was  particularly  effective,  and  the 
electric  display  from  the  fortress,  city,  and  harbor,  added 
to  the  natural  grandeur  of  the  scenery,  made  the  evening 
spectacle  wonderfully  impressive.  A  review  of  6,000  troops 
took  place  on  the  historic  Plains  of  Abraham,  and,  later  on, 
of  11,000  troops  at  Toronto  and  15,000  at  Halifax.  The  so- 
cial receptions  at  Quebec  and  at  Montreal  were  canceled, 
greatly  to  the  personal  disappointment  of  the  people,  out  of 
respect  to  the  memory  of  President  McKinley,  whose  funeral 
was  then  taking  place. 

DOMiNioM — aa 


-.{■►■ 


1i. 

i  i 


506 


THE  STORY  OF   THE  DOMINION 


Montreal  gave  the  Royal  couple  a  crowded  and  imposing 
welcome.  The  Mayor,  clad  in  the  purple  robes  of  an  English 
Mayor,  read  an  Address  in  French,  which  the  Duke  replied 
to  in  English.  Their  Eoyal  Highnesses  were  then  driven 
through  the  gayly  decorated  streets  to  the  house  of  Lord 
Strathcona,  who  had  come  out  from  England  to  join  in  the 
reception.  Along  the  ensuing  journey  of  3,000  miles  from 
Atlantic  to  Pacific,  and  the  return  and  branch-line  trips, 
some  brief  stops  were  made  at  many  small  places  as  well  as 
at  the  large  ones.  But  everywhere,  whether  the  Royal  train, 
which  was  a  magnificent  special  suite  of  cars  prepared  for 
the  tour  by  the  Canadian  Pacific  Railway,  stopped  or  not, 
and  whether  the  time  was  day  or  night,  crowds  stood  at  the 
stations,  to  cheer,  and  if  possible  to  see,  their  future  King. 
In  Winnipeg  the  central  feature  of  the  welcome  was  the 
presence  of  immense  arches  of  wheat  upon  the  chief  streets; 
at  Calgary  the  gathering  of  thousands  of  Indians  in  solemn 
greeting  with  an  exhibition  of  Western  bronco-riding  and 
sports  was  the  principal  feature ;  at  Vancouver  there  was  a 
great  gathering  of  school  children  singing  patriotic  songs; 
at  Victoria  the  fireworks  and  illumination  of  the  city  and 
of  the  fleet  of  men-of-war  in  the  harbor  were  conspicuous 
features.  '■ 

Toronto  gave  the  Royal  visitors  the  chief  popular  reception 
of  the  tour.  Seven  miles  of  continuously  decorated  streets 
lined  by  11,000  soldiers  and  a  multitude  of  people,  a  musical 
welcome  by  a  trained  chorus  of  2,000  voices,  a  crowded  re- 
ception at  the  Parliamentary  buildings,  State  dinners,  a  great 
Military  review,  University  honors,  and  constant  cheering  in 
the  crowded  streets,  were  indications  of  the  interest  taken  in 
the  Royal  couple.  At  Ottawa,  the  unique  feature  of  the  wel- 
come was  the  visit  to  a  lumberman's  camp  and  a  trip  down  the 
river  on  a  lumberman's  raft.  From  Halifax,  the  Duke  and 
Duchess  sailed  on  October  21st,  accompanied  by  a  fleet  of  war- 
ships, and  with  the  remembrance  of  an  Empire  tour  unprece- 
dented in  history  and  a  popular  reception,  cordial  and  loyal 
beyond  the  most  enthusiastic  expectation.     Before  leaving, 


THE  OPENING  YEARS  OF  THE  NEW  CENTURY       507 


His  Royal  Highness  issued  a  letter  of  thanks  and  appreciation 
to  the  people  of  Canada,  which,  like  all  his  many  speeches  in 
reply  to  addresses  of  welcome,  was  manly  in  expression  and 
effective  in  style  and  phrase.  Toward  its  close,  the  Duke  ex- 
pressed the  deep  regret  of  the  Duchess  and  himself  at  not 
having  been  able  to  see  more  of  the  country  and  its  people. 
"But  we  have  seen  enough  to  carry  away  imperishable  mem- 
ories of  affectionate  and  loyal  hearts,  frank  and  independent 
natures,  prosperous  and  progressive  communities,  boundless 
productive  territories,  glorious  scenery,  stupendous  works  of 
nature,  a  people  and  a  country  proud  of  its  membership  i  i  the 
Empire,  and  in  which  the  Empire  finds  one  of  its  brightest 
offspring." 

During  the  years  1900-2  the  South  African  struggle  con- 
tinued in  varying  phases  of  success  and  failure  toward  its  in- 
evitable end.  Additional  contingents  went  from  Canada  to 
the  total  number  of  7,300  men,  and  individual  Canadians 
achieved  distinction — Lieutenant-Colonel  R.  E.  W.  Turner, 
of  Quebec,  winning  the  V.  0.  and  D.  S.  O.,  and  Lieutenants 
H.  C.  Z.  Cockburn  and  E.  J.  Holland  the  V.  C.  Special  hon- 
ors were  gained  by  Colonel  Sir  E.  P.  C.  Girouard,  Director  of 
Railways,  and  member  of  a  well-known  French-Canadian 
family.  Strathcona's  Horse,  under  Colonel  S.  B.  Steele,  won 
high  reputation  for  dash  and  courage,  and  the  same  may  be 
said  of  the  1st  and  2d  Canadian  Mounted  Rifles,  under 
Colonel  T.  D.  B.  Evans.  At  the  Harts'  River  fight  on  March 
31,  1902,  Canadian  bravery  was  specially  marked,  and  every 
man  in  a  small  force,  surrounded  by  many  hundred  Boers, 
was  wounded  or  killed  be"fcre  being  finally  overpowered  by 
numbers.  Terms  of  Peace  were  signed  at  Pretoria  on  May 
31st,  following,  and  the  rejoicings  in  Canada  were  marked 
by  an  enthusiasm  tempered  only  with  thoughts  of  the  224 
gallant  Canadians  who  had  lost  their  lives  in  the  struggle. 

POLITICAL    INCIDENTS    AND    CHANGES  , 

The  Federal  elections  of  November,  1900,  had  resulted 
in  a  sweeping  success  for  the  Laurier  Government — outside  of 


rr" 


508 


THE  STORY   OF   THE  DOMINION 


Ontario,  which  returned  a  large  Conservative  majority  of 
members.  Quebec  only  elected  seven  Conservatives,  and  Sir 
Charles  Tupper,  Hon.  George  E.  Foster,  and  the  Hon.  Hugh 
John  Macdonald,  were  all  defeated  in  their  respective  con- 
stituencies. At  the  beginning  of  the  following  Session  of 
Parliament  Sir  Charles  Tupper's  resignation  of  the  party 
leadership  was  announced,  and  Mr.  Robert  Laird  Borden, 
K.  C,  M.  P.,  of  Halifax,  was  chosen  to  succeed  him.  On 
March  3,  1901,  the  Provincial  elections  in  Nova  Scotia  took 
place,  and  the  Murray  Government  (Liberal)  was  returned  to 
power,  with  only  two  opponents  in  the  Legislature.  In  De- 
cember, 1901,  Mr.  Arthur  Peters  succeeded  the  Hon.  Mr. 
Farquharson  as  Premier  of  Prince  Edward  Island,  and  in 
November,  1902,  Lieutenant-Colonel  Edward  G.  Prior  be- 
came Premier  of  British  Columbia  in  succession  to  the  Hon. 
Mr.  Dunsmuir.     .  vu  .,!        n     .'...'  w 

Meanwhile,  the  chief  political  incident  of  1902  was  the 
campaign  urged  by  the  Hon.  J.  Israel  Tarte,  Minister  of  Pub- 
lic Works,  for  a  high  tariff  against  American  goods,  and, 
finally,  his  retirement  from  the  Government  on  October  20th. 
lie  was  succeeded  by  the  Hon.  James  Sutherland,  and  the  new 
member  of  the  Ministry  was  Mr.  Raymond  Prefontaine,  of 
Montreal.  In  May,  1902,  the  Ross  Government  in  Ontario 
had  fought  their  general  elections  with  a  result  of  51  Lib- 
erals elected  as  against  4-7  Conservatives.  The  narrow  ma- 
jority created  much  political  conflict  and  acrimonious  dis- 
cussion, and  on  March  11,  1903,  at  the  opening  of  the  new 
Legislature,  Mr.  R.  R.  Gamey  produced  a  sensation  by 
charging  a  member  of  the  Government  with  having  paid 
him  $2,000  for  his  vote.  The  matter  was  referred  to  a  for- 
mal investigation.  Late  in  February  the  New  Brunswick 
Provincial  elections  took  place,  and  the  Tweedie  Government 
(Liberal)  was  returned  with  a  large  majority.  ^:-^-^  i  —- ^   - 

On  February  12,  1902,  occurred  the  death  of  the  Marquis 
of  Dufferin,  who  was  Governor-General  of  Canada  from  1872 
to  1878.  The  coronation  of  King  Edward  VII  of  England 
was  scheduled  for  June  of  this  year,  1902,  but  on  account  of 


THE   OPENING    YEARS   OP   THE   NEW   CENTURY       509 


the  serious  illness  of  the  King  was  postponed  until  Angiist 
9th,  when  it  took  place  at  Westminster  Abbey.  Sir  Wilfrid 
Lanrier  was  the  recipient  of  many  honors  during  the  fes- 
tivities. The  Imperial  Conference,  opened  June  11,  1902, 
Avas  held  to  take  into  consideration  relations  between  the 
colonies  and  the  mother  country,  and  to  carry  through,  if 
possible,  a  scheme  of  federation.  This  conference,  a  pet  crea- 
tion of  Mr.  Chamberlain's,  continued  its  sessions  until  August 
11,  1902,  without,  however,  making  any  progress  in  the  solu- 
tion of  the  question. 

Early  in  1903  (April  19),  occurred  the  death  of  Sir 
Oliver  Mowat,  Lieutenant-Governor  of  Ontario.  It  would  be 
difficult  to  find  in  Canada,  and  especially  in  Ontario,  a  man 
more  beloved  than  he.  He  was  known  as  one  of  the  "Fathers 
of  the  Confederation."  The  project  for  a  new  transconti- 
nental railway  made  the  year  1903  industrially  significant. 
The  scheme,  when  finally  presented  to  Parliament  by  Sir 
Wilfrid  Laurier  on  July  31,  1903,  provided  for  the  building 
of  a  new  line  from  Moncton,  New  Brunswick,  through  Quebec 
to  Winnipeg  and  the  Pacific  Coast,  at  a  terminal  then  not 
fixed,  but  now  known  as  Prince  Eupert.  The  company  is 
practically  the  same  as  the  Grand  Trunk  Railway  Company. 

The  Conservatives,  under  jMr.  Borden's  leadership,  opposed 
the  scheme,  but  failed  to  defeat  it,  the  bill  passing  its  third 
reading  in  October,  1903.  Another  important  measure  of 
this  session  was  the  Parliamentary  distribution,  based  on  the 
census  of  1901.  By  its  terms  the  House  of  Commons  contains 
214  members,  the  basis  being  1  for  every  2,500  people.         ' 

The  most  important  event  of  the  year  1903  was  the  settle- 
ment of  the  Alaska  boundary  dispute.  The  necessity  for  a 
prompt  settlement  of  this  controversy  was  apparent  to  all, 
because  it  was  in  this  disputed  region  that  a  large  part  of 
the  Klondike  gold  fields,  or  routes  to  those  gold  fields,  lay. 

The  source  of  the  dispute  lay  in  the  obscure  and  am- 
biguous language  of  the  treaty  of  1825  between  Russia  and 
Great  Britain.  This  treaty  had  been  interpreted  over  and 
over  again  in  various  ways,  and  neither  the  United  States 


510 


Tni-:  .sTowr  of  the  dominion 


nor  Canada  had  shown  any  great  anxiety  to  settle  the  ques- 
tion until  the  gold  discoveries  in  Alaska.  The  main  aim  of 
the  Canadians  was  to  secure  an  outlet  on  their  own  territory 
to  the  sea,  particularly  through  the  so-called  Lynn  Canal. 

On  January  24,  1903,  a  treaty  between  Great  Britain  and 
the  United  States,  providing  for  the  settlement  of  this  ques- 
tion, was  signed  in  Washington  by  Secretary  John  Hay,  for 
the  United  States,  and  Sir  Michael  Herbert,  for  Great 
Britain.  This  treaty  was  ratified  (February  11)  by  the 
United  States  Senate,  and  on  March  J^d  ratifications  were 
exchanged,  providing  that  an  international  tribunal  should 
be  constituted,  and  that  its  decision  should  be  final. 

The  American  members  of  the  tribunal  were :  Elihu  Root, 
Secretary  of  War;  Senator  H.  C.  Lodge,  of  Massachusetts, 
and  Ex-Senator  George  Turner  of  Washington.  .   ;  >, 

It  was  early  made  known  that  Lord  Alverstone,  Chief 
eTustice  of  England,  would  be  one  of  the  judges,  and  it  was 
finally  announced  that  the  other  members  of  the  tribunal 
would  be  Canadians. 

The  appointments  went  to  Sir  Louis  A.  Jette,  Lieutenant- 
Governor  of  Quebec,  formerly  a  judge  of  the  Province,  and 
John  Douglas  Armour,  Justice  of  the  Supreme  Court  of 
Canada.  i.        .  V  -      --^  -■ 

Justice  Armour  died  suddenly  in  England,  and  Mr.  A.  B. 
Aylesworth,  K.  C,  was  appointed  in  his  place.  It  can  not 
be  said  of  the  Canadians  that  they  were  false  to  the  terms 
of  the  treaty.  The  men  they  selected  could  truly  be  called 
"impartial  jurists  of  repute."  The  American  ^.ounsel  were : 
Jacob  M.  Dickinson,  David  T.  Watson,  Hannis  Taylor,  C.  P. 
Anderson,  and  J.  W.  Foster. 

The  British  Counsel  were:  Hon.  Edward  Blake,  who 
shortly  resigned  and  was  succeeded  by  Sir  Edward  H.  Car- 
son, Clifford  Sifton,  Christopher  Robinson,  F.  C.  Wade, 
Aime  Geoffrion,  L.  P.  Duff,  R.  B.  Finlay,  S.  A.  T.  Rowlatt, 
and  J.  A.  Simon. 

The  first  meeting  of  the  Alaska  Boundary  Tribunal  took 
place  in  London  on  September  3,  1903,  and  Lord  Alverstone 


THE    OPHNING    YEAKH    OF   THE    l\EW    CENTURY       511 


was  elected  chairman.  After  a  preliminary  meeting  the  tri- 
bunal adjourned  to  the  15th  of  September,  during  which  time 
the  members  studied  the  cases  submitted  by  both  sides.  Argu- 
ments were  made  on  September  15th,  and  on  October  3d. 

On  October  20,  1903,  a  decision  was  announced  which  was 
practically  a  verdict  for  the  American  contentions.  The  line 
which  the  decision  fixed  as  boundary  nearly  coincided  with 
the  American  claims.  The  Canadians  lost  the  heads  of  all 
inlets  and  had  practically  no  outlet  to  the  ocean. 

The  close  of  the  year  1903  was  marked  by  a  disastrous 
fire,  which  destroyed  the  University  of  Ottawa  on  Decem- 
ber 2d. 

The  year  1904  is  noteworthy  for  several  circumstances  and 
events,  the  most  important  of  which  was  the  general  election 
which  took  place  in  November.  One  of  the  issues  was  the 
change  in  the  conditions  under  which  the  Grand  Trunk  Pa- 
cific Railway  was  to  be  buiit.  The  management  proposed 
several  changes,  among  whi<.^h  were  these :  The  extension  of 
the  limit  on  bonds  to  be  guaranteed  by  the  Government  to 
three-fourths  of  the  cost  of  the  mountain  section;  the  pro- 
vision of  a  remedy  in  case  of  a  default  in  the  payment  of 
interest  on  the  bonds;  the  extension  of  time  for  the  com- 
pleting of  the  Western  Division  to  December  1,  1911 ;  the 
addition  of  certain  specified  conditions  in  which  the  $5,000,- 
000  deposit  could  be  returned  to  the  company ;  the  giving  to 
the  Grand  Trunk  Railway  control  over  the  $25,000,000  of 
common  stock  to  be  taken  in  the  Grand  Trunk  Pacific  Com- 
pany, and  the  grant  to  the  company  of  the  running  rights 
for  another  fifty  years  over  the  Eastern  Division,  if  the  Gov- 
ernment, at  the  end  of  the  present  fifty  years'  lease,  should 
assume  control  of  that  part  of  the  line.  On  April  5,  1002, 
Sir  Wilfrid  Laurier  made  a  statement  as  to  the  action  of  the 
Government  on  this  matter.  It  was  in  no  sense  a  complete 
acceptance  of  the  various  requests.  The  request  that  the  limit 
for  the  completion  of  the  Western  DivisioR  be  five  years  had 
l)een  scaled  down  to  three.  As  to  the  forfeiture  of  the  $5,000,- 
000  deposit,  the  provision  was  made  that  if  when  the  company 


512 


THE    STORY    OF   THE   DOMiyiON 


i 


;    !t 


had  completed  the  Western  section  the  Government  had  not 
yet  done  the  Eastern  section,  the  deposit  coidd  be  released 
with  an  adequate  provision  for  the  completion  of  the  Eastern 
section. 

This  settlement,  -while  giving  the  Grand  Tnmk  better 
terms,  was  hardly  a  complete  surrender  on  the  Government's 
part,  yet  it  was  so  described  by  the  Opposition,  headed  by 
Mr.  Borden.  His  motion  declaring  the  Opposition's  policy  in 
the  question  was  voted  down  on  April  20,  1904,  by  a  vote  of 
116  to  61. 

Ono  of  the  most  sensational  incidents  during  the  year  was 
in  connection  with  Lord  Dundonald,  the  general  officer  com- 
manding the  Canadian  milita.  Lord  Dundonald,  on  assum- 
ing command  of  the  militia,  threw  himself  heartily  into  the 
work  of  reorganizing  the  force  and  bringing  it  up  to  date. 
There  were  soon  rumors,  however,  of  friction  between  him- 
self and  his  superiors,  but  nothing  came  out  publicly  until 
on  the  night  of  June  4,  1904,  when  Lord  Dundonald  made 
a  speech  at  a  military  banquet  in  Montreal  in  which  he  at- 
tacked the  Hon.  Sidney  Foster,  Minister  of  Agriculture,  for 
erasing  the  name  of  an  officer  submitted  by  him  for  the 
Thirteenth  Light  Dragoons. 

Lord  Dundonald  was  called  upon  for  an  explanation  of 
his  attack  on  a  Minister  of  the  Government,  and,  in  reply, 
admitted  the  correctness  of  the  report  of  his  speech. 

Parliament  took  no  action;  the  Privy  Council,  how- 
ever, on  June  14,  1904,  dismissed  Lord  Dundonald,  the 
reasons  being  stated  in  the  official  explanation  as:  "for  an 
officer  to  make  a  piiblic  attack  upon  the  Ministers  of  the  Gov- 
ernment imder  which  he  served  is  a  proceeding  so  totally  at 
variance  with  the  principles  which  must  necessarily  obtain 
in  the  administration  of  military  as  well  as  civil  affairs, 
that  it  can  not  be  with  propriety  overlooked.  It  is  impossible 
to  do  otherwise  than  to  characterize  the  speech  of  Lord  Dun- 
donald as  a  grave  act  of  indiscretion  and  insubordination." 

Lord  Dundonald's  dismissal  was  received  with  approval 
by  the  Liberals,  but  it  was  denounced  by  the  Conservatives. 


THE    Ol'ENINO    YlLUiS   OF   THE    NEW    CENTURY       513 


Lord  Dnndonuld  was  banqueted  and  feted  in  several  cities 
and  received  a  great  farewell  demonstration  at  Ottawa  on 
the  evening  of  his  de|)arture,  July  2r)th.  In  England  his 
false  step  was  generally  condemned. 

The  first  intimation  of  the  coming  general  election  was 
given  by  Sir  Wilfrid  Lanricr  in  a  speech  at  Sorel,  Quebec, 
on  geptenil)er  28,  1904. 

From  that  day  until  election  day,  Noveniber  3d,  the  Do- 
minion was  the  scene  of  a  very  interesting  political  struggle, 
one  of  the  most  bitterly  fought  in  the  whole  history  of  Canada. 
The  general  issues  made  by  the  Conservatives  were  the  ex- 
travagance of  and  the  truckling  to  the  Grand  Trunk  Railway, 
incurring  great  public  debts,  preferential  tariff,  the  Dun- 
donald  case,  and  the  scandals  in  the  Yukon  district.  The 
elections  proved  a  greater  victory  for  the  Government  than 
they  had  hoped  for.  The  House  stood  on  January  1,  1905, 
139  Liberals  to  75  Conservatives,  or  a  Liberal  majority  of  G4. 

The  year  1904  closed  the  term  of  office  of  the  Earl  of 
Minto  as  Governor-General.  His  term  had  been  extended 
and  he  was  generally  popular  with  Canadians.  Lord  Minto 
was  succeeded  by  Earl  Grey,  who  arrived  at  Halifax  on  De- 
cember 10,  1904,  and  who  received,  an  enthusiastic  welcome. 

One  of  the  most  important  visitors  to  Canada  in  1904  was 
Dr.  Davidson,  Archbishop  of  Canterbury,  and  Primate  of  all 
England.  Other  prominent  visitors  of  the  year  were:  Hon. 
James  Bryce,  and  Mr.  John  Morley,  now  Viscount  Morley. 

That  the  old  religious  and  race  conflict  in  Canadu  has 
not  died  out  was  conclusively  proved  by  the  contest  over 
separate  schools  in  the  new  Provinces  of  Alberta  and  Sas- 
katchewan. These  two  Provinces  had  been  a  part  of  the 
Xorth-West  Territories,  divided  into  four  political  divisions, 
Saskatchewan,  Alberta,  Assiniboia,  and  Athabasca,  which  had 
been  ruled  from  Ottawa,  or  Territories,  having  a  Territorial 
Legislature  with  capital  at  Regina.  On  January  12,  1905, 
the  Government  promised  a  bill  for  conferring  autonomy  on 
the  Territories,  but  no  mention  was  made  on  the  educational 
question. 


514 


THE    STORY    OF   THE   DOMINION 


About  February  1,  1905,  rumors  began  to  circulate  that 
the  Catholic  authorities  would  deinand  a  clear,  defiuito  state- 
ment on  the  separate-school  question.  The  separate  school 
was  established  in  the  North-West  Territories  and  had  been 
legalized  and  authorized  by  the  North- West  Territories  Act 
of  1875,  and  also  by  the  North-Wcst  Territories  Ordinances 
of  1901.  Once  stirred  up,  however,  the  question  became  the 
subject  and  object  of  gret  ife.  Sir  Wilfrid  Laurier  in 
introducing  the  Autonomy  ^ill  on  February  21,  1905,  made 
a  very  frank  statement  on  the  educational  clause,  urging 
the  establishment  of  the  separate  school  system  in  tlio  new 
Provinces. 

The  Premier's  speech  and  Mr.  Sifton's  resignation,  and 
the  dissatisfaction  which  this  revealed,  caused  a  storm  of  pro- 
test to  rise  throughout  the  Dominion.  The  opposition  came 
strongest  from  Ontario,  and  especially  from  the  city  of 
Toronto. 

Mr.  Haultain,  the  Premier  of  the  Xorth-West  Territories, 
declared  that  Parliament  had  no  riglit  to  consider  the  ques- 
tion at  all,  that  the  eduea*  al  clause  was  settled  when  the 
Provinces  were  admitted  3rii(<>ries,  and  that  the  rights 

acquired  then  could  not  be  taken  aw  ay  simply  by  a  change  of 
Government. 

By  the  middle  of  March,  1905,  it  was  plain  that  unless 
the  Government  compromised  the  fate  of  the  measure,  the 
Autonomy  Act,  was  in  great  doubt. 

On  March  20,  1905,  a  compromise  clause  was  made  public. 
As  amended,  the  bill  provided  that  the  separate  schools  must 
iise  the  authorized  text-books  of  the  Province,  and  submit  to 
Government  control  so  far  as  teachers'  qualifications  were 
concerned.  The  bill,  as  amended,  passed  May  3d,  by  a  vote 
of  140  to  59. 

The  capital  of  the  new  Province  of  Saskatchewan  was  fixed 
at  Regina,  and  that  of  Alberta  at  Edmonton.  The  inaugura- 
tion of  the  Province  of  Alberta  took  place  at  Edmonton  on 
September  1,  1905,  -"^vith  Mr.  Amedee  Emmanuel  Eorget  as 
Lieutenant-Governor.     On   September  4th,   at  Regina,   the 


THE    OPENiyO   YEARS   OF    THE    NEW   CENTURY       515 


Province  of  Saskatchewan  was  fori  >ed,  with  Mr.  George 
lledley  Vicars  Bulyea  as  Lieutenant-Governor.  Mr.  A.  C 
Rutherford  was  appointed  Premier  of  Alberta,  and  Mr. 
Walter  Scott  Premier  of  Saskatchewan. 

The  most  significant  anJ  important  fact  in  the  material 
history  of  Canada  in  the  past  twenty-five  years  is  the  open- 
ing of  the  North-West  and  the  marvelous  growth  of  the  set- 
tlements. It  is  impossible  to  accurately  estimate  the  numlxjr 
of  settlers  involved  in  the  movement.  Probably  340,000  is  a 
fair  estimate  of  the  number  of  new  settlers  in  the  Provinces 
of  Alberta  and  Saskatchewan  alone.  The  year  1907  was 
marked  by  the  collapse  (August  29),  of  the  Quebec  bridge 
unilcr  construction,  which  caused  the  death  of  eighty  men. 
On  September  7,  1907,  Anti- Japanese  race  riots  broke  out  in 
Vancouver,  B.  C,  the  outcome  of  heavy  Japanese  immigra- 
tion to  the  Pacific  Coast. 

In  the  year  1908  was  celebrated  the  tercentenary  of 
the  founding  of  Quebec  by  Champlain.  On  March  3,  1908, 
Sir  Wilfrid  Laurier,  in  announcing  the  proposals  of  the  Do- 
minion Government  in  this  connection,  explained  the  objects : 
"First,  of  having  a  celebration  in  the  city  of  Quebec;  and 
ecoondly,  to  undertake  the  reclamation  of  the  battlefields  on  the 
Plains  of  Abraham,  and  at  Ste.  Foye."  The  act  introduced  by 
the  Premier,  and  subsequently  passed  by  Parliament,  created  a 
"National  Battlefields  Commission,"  and  voted  $800,000  as 
a  first  appropriation  toward  the  celebration.  The  Premier 
also  announced  the  appointment  of  five  commissioners  on  be- 
lialf  of  the  Dominion  Government:  Mr.  George  Gameau, 
Mayor  of  Quebec ;  Sir  George  A.  Drummond,  of  Montreal ; 
Byron  E.  W^alker,  president  of  the  Canadian  Bank  of  Com- 
merce, Toronto;  Colonel  G.  T.  Denison,  Toronto;  and  Hon. 
Adelard  Turgeon,  Quebec. 

The  program  of  the  celebration  at  Quebec  began  on 
Sunday,  July  19,  and  closed  Friday,  July  31,  1908. 

The  Prince  of  Wales  was  present  from  Wednesday,  the 
22d,  to  Wednesday,  the  29th.  The  French  and  American 
fleets  were  received  on  the  day  preceding  the  arrival  of  the 


616 


TEE   8T0RT    OF   THE   DOMINION 


Prince.  The  first  Thursday  was  Champlain  Day.  His- 
torical  pageants,  dating  from  Jacques  Cartier  to  the  capture 
of  Quebec  by  the  English,  were  held  on  eight  days,  and  on 
Champlain  Day  there  was  a  historical  procession  through 
the  streets.  The  official  guests  who  received  the  most  atten- 
tion were  the  Prince  of  Wales,  Lord  Roberts,  and  Vice- 
President  Fairbanks  of  the  United  States.  After  a  grand 
review  of  troops  the  title  deeds  of  the  old  battlefields  on  the 
Plains  of  Abraham  were  presented  to  the  Dominion,  the 
battlefields  to  consti>'j.ce  a  national  park. 

It  would  be  impossible  to  close  this  work  without  a  few 
words  of  appreciation  of  the  Canadian  people  in  the  light 
of  their  history.  I  am  sure  the  inhabitants  of  the  Dominion 
do  not  realize  the  extraordinary  growth  of  their  country  nor 
the  vitality  of  their  constitutions,  and  the  principles  of  their 
government.  Few  realize  that  Canada,  as  a  British  colony, 
began  its  existence  at  almost  the  same  time  the  United  States 
began  its  .ntity.  It  was  not  until  the  Quebec  Act  of  1774 
that  Canada  really  had  a  constitutional  Government  and 
started  on  its  career  as  a  distinct  state  and  part  of  the  British 
Government.  Canada  had  less  than  70,000  people  in  1774, 
as  compared  to  the  two  millions  and  over  of  the  United  States. 

Canada's  growth  has  been  more  rapid  in  proportion  than 
that  of  the  Unit  .'d  States,  in  spite  of  the  handicap  of  clashing 
races,  derided  climate,  maligned  soil,  discord  within  and 
interference  from  without. 

It  was  with  this  splendid  record  in  mind  that  Sir  Wilfrid 
Xaurier  made  his  famous  prediction:  "The  Nineteenth  Cen- 
tury was  the  United  States',  the  Twentieth  Century  will  be 
Canada's." 


I.-: 


,--.4*M^r- 


